Digital Demons: Persona Vancouver
by Eric T. M
Summary: T.R.U.T.H. are a Canadian spy organization in Vancouver made up of seven teenagers and one Android, each with the power to use a Persona. Join them as they investigate "PsykoNet", a phenomenon in which one's online identity (Shadow) attempts to murder its real counterpart to become the 'true self'. Watch as T.R.U.T.H. steathily uncover the secrets of criminals, and even themselves.
1. Pr - A Mysterious Boy - Part 1

Aug. 27, Granville Island, Vancouver; Late Afternoon

It was the last week of August. School would be starting again in only a few weeks. In a last-ditch effort to make her summer worth at least something, a young woman in high school decided to check out a festival going on at the idyllic Granville Island.

She was carrying around a handful of shopping bags, but there was no one else actually with her. She sat down to reflect on the things she'd bought. She bought a small box of macarons; her favourite hard-to-find treat. She also bought a small keychain with a sitting black cat on it. Something about the cat's unforgiving glare drew her to the overpriced keychain.

She had a little bit more money to spend before it would start cutting into her savings, so she decided she might as well spend the rest of it. There was a charming fortune teller's tent by the pier. As she walked over to the tent, skeptical but down for a fun experience, she noticed water buses transporting passengers across the small canal between the island and the highway. She entered the tent, looking around curiously.

"Good afternoon, child," the fortune teller greeted. The girl looked in the fortune teller's direction. It was a man. His age was somewhere in the range of semi-early-adulthood. He wasn't really dressed like a typical eccentric fortune teller. He wore a violet tuxedo, and silky lavender gloves. There was a violet top head on his head, too, and his hair was dark brunette, not quite brown but close.

"H-hi," she said with an awkward smile.

"Don't be shy," said the fortune teller. "I don't bite." He chuckled. "Take a seat."

So, the girl did.

"What's your name?" the fortune teller asked.

"Heather," she answered. "Heather Holland."

"Heather," the man commented. "A lovely name."

"Thanks," she blushed awkwardly. "How much is a reading?"

"I already put my cash box away, so I'll treat you to one on the house- or, on the tent, if you will," offered the man.

"N-no, really, you don't have to do that for me," Heather gasped.

"Nonsense, it's my offer," insisted the reader. "Besides, it looks like you're a bit lonely today."

"Well… all right… hit me up," she agreed.

He pulled out a deck of cards. "Tarot," he explained. "As you can see," he continued, shuffling the deck, "the order of the cards is completely random. Do you have any questions you'd like answered?"

"Well… yeah…" she sighed. "Um, where do I go from here? I've been feeling… unsure of myself."

"I can answer that. How many cards shall we draw today?"

"Um… you do you," Heather chuckled.

"All right," said the man. "Since I was about to close my shop, I'll do a short reading. How's three cards sound?"

"Um… all right," Heather nodded.

The fortune teller began pulling cards from the top of the deck. Once three were on the table, he turned them all over.

The first card portrayed some crowned figure on a thrown, who held a sword in one hand and an old-timey weighing scale in the other. However, it looked like it was upside down. Was that an oversight by the teller?

The second card portrayed a figure in a draping robe, who stood behind a table with many things on it. The table's legs were entwined in a bed of multiple types of flowers.

The third card portrayed some carefree man standing with his arms open into the sunlight. There was a pale flower in his hand.

"The first card drawn almost always is used to determine what had happened in the past to lead up to this point," explained the teller. "I tend to read it the same way. The card I've drawn is the Major Arcana card called Justice. However, it's inverted."

"Oh, so it's not just upside down?" she asked.

"Indeed not," he continued. "Its inverted position tells me that there is something wrong. There is injustice in your life. You probably feel that it is unjust, and I would wager that you're right to feel that way. I feel that it must be rather recent."

"Wow…" Heather acknowledged.

"It's intimidatingly accurate, huh?" chuckled the teller. He went on. "The second card, in this situation, will be used to gauge where you currently are in your life journey. The card in that position is the Magician card. It represents, in your case, what I perceive to be balance, and the role you play in maintaining the balance of… well, maybe not yourself, and maybe not others, maybe it's something in between."

"Mhm…" she mumbled.

"The final card is the one I will use to answer your question: where should you go from here?" the man claimed. "The card is The Fool. Hm…" he put a finger to his chin in thought. "Perhaps you should pursue… no… no, I know. The Fool will come to you, yes." The fortune teller moved his hair out from his eyes and looked at Heather with a confident look. "You will encounter a Fool of which no one can identify. Keep an eye on him, mysterious as he will be."

Aug. 27, Granville Island Skytrain Station, Vancouver; Evening

Heather had barely made it to the skytrain before it took off. She stumbled onboard, nearly tripping and falling over into the middle of the aisle. The school she attended had sponsored the students' admission to the festival, so the skytrain was full of familiar faces. As she tried to regain her balance and catch her breath, a multitude of the other passengers laughed under their breaths. Nobody attempted to help her. With an embarrassed expression, she walked through the aisle, looking for an available seat. She found one. It was next to Samantha, one of her old friends. She moved in to take a seat. But then, the girl put her shopping bags on the chair next to her, glaring up at Heather with all of her intentions burning through her gaze. Heather internally swore, but kept going down the aisle. Every free seat she saw was either already claimed by a bag of some kind, or swiftly was occupied by one. Other students glared at her, as if to say "Don't you dare try and sit next to me."

She got all the way to the back of the skytrain, feeling incredibly defeated. Then, the guy sitting there picked up his bag kindly and placed it on his lap. He looked up at Heather. However, his eyes were soft, and silently inviting. Heather smiled, and awkwardly sat down. "Thanks," she smiled.

"You're welcome," he responded.

Heather immediately noticed that she didn't recognize this guy from her class, or from any of the hallways. Of course, she knew there were other schools in town - Vancouver was absolutely not a small town - but with all the other students on the bus being familiar to her, she figured he must be among them, right?

"I don't think we've met," she said.

"Nope, I doubt it. I'm Thorne," he explained. "I'm not from here, actually. I'm going to Goldhelm for the rest of my high school education. It's… kind of a long story."

"Oh, well, I won't pry," Heather responded. "I'm Heather." She reached out her hand.

Thorne did too, and they shook hands.

Wow, Heather thought. Someone who doesn't despise me?

"Well, it'll be a long skytrain ride, I might as well talk about it. Unless you'd rather not."

"No, no, please. Go ahead!"

The boy began to explain his situation. "Well, I'm actually from a town right on the border of B.C. and Alberta. I'm actually super new to Vancouver. I'm staying with my grandfather right now. It's not very well that I can live my with parents now, anyway…"

Aug. 27, Location Unverified; Time Unverified

There was a dark room. It was lit with the faint blue light of a myriad of screens positioned all over the walls. There was a big, curved control panel of some sort, and a large, glamorous executive chair in the middle of the room, which, with a swivel, had a perfect view of all the screens. There was a tall, shadowed figure in the chair.

There was also a shadowed figure, this one feminine, in the doorway, the light from the outside hall casting so strongly that none of their features could be made out.

"Yes?" said the large figure in the chair. "What have you come to my office for?"

"Sir, progress on the application is nearly complete. It should be ready for launch by the weekend, if everything remains on track."

"That's good news," said the seated man.

"Indeed!" she upspoke. "It's ridiculous to think a simple app would take this long to program… though, I suppose our app is anything but simple."

"Indeed not. Such technology takes precision and special equipment to make, and to replicate. Though, once it's finally finished, modern day society will be as good as ours."


	2. Pr - A Mysterious Boy - Part 2

Aug. 27, Thorne Blackwood's Residence, Charles Street, Vancouver; Late Evening

"Welcome back, Thorne," greeted Thorne's grandfather. "You had a long day, huh?"

"Indeed," responded Thorne. "I met a girl-"

"Uh-huh? Is that so?" his grandfather asked. "Is she your girlfriend now?"

"Ugh…" groaned Thorne. "No. I'm fine for now. I'm gonna go to my room. Are you making dinner?"

"No, I already ate while you were gone. You can make yourself something."

"Thanks. See ya." And with that, Thorne was off to his room. He dropped his bags on the ground next to his bed and jumped in, maybe too aggressively. He pulled out his phone. Of course, there wasn't anyone trying to talk to him. Why would there be? But, at least he could browse the media.

After a quick shower, he went to bed. He fell asleep quite quickly, tired out from his long day of traveling. And his long week of travelling all the way from the edge of Albert to Vancouver. He was out like a light before he even knew it.

Aug. 27-28, Commander's Quarters, Time Unverified

"Greetings," Thorne heard. Groggily, he wiped at his eyes. Where was he? Everything was a dark, except for the gentle static colour of a large screen. As his eyes adjusted, he noticed that the location looked like a… film studio? He must have been dreaming.

"I'd explain, but you wouldn't believe me," the voice spoke again. Thorne adjusted his eyes again, and saw a tall, broad figure sitting in front of the huge static screen. The figure was sat at an executive-looking desk. "Call me Commander."

Thorne felt his immediate surroundings. It appeared that he was sitting in a chair. All things considered, it was an exceptionally comfortable chair. "Who are you, and where am I?" he asked. "I'm dreaming, right?"

"Eh, close enough to it," explained the figure. "It's good to finally meet you. Boy, do you have an exciting year ahead of you, Agent."

"Agent?" Thorne asked. "My name is Thorne."

"I know."

"Who are you?"

"I told you," the figure responded. "Commander, to you." Commander continued, cutting off Thorne who was about to ask another question. "Don't lose sight of your true self, got it? Of course, if I didn't believe in your stone-hard conviction, I wouldn't have chosen to meet you here. However, your identity will be your greatest asset in the coming months. Use it powerfully."

"My identity? What do you-" Thorne tried to asked, but before he could finish, the screen's static light flickered off. It left the entire studio in utter darkness. However, there was something left. Though everything around it was dark, the item before Thorne seemed to have its own light. It was… a thin card, about the size or slightly larger than a playing card. He reached out to it, having nothing else to do.

"Though a Trickster may lack experience in the world, He will never fall victim to what others tell Him. His specialty is abiding by His own rules." A voice echoed. It sounded vaguely like Thorne's own voice, but it couldn't have been, since Thorne wasn't talking. "Be aware of your self, Trickster," the voice suggested. "Your greatest power is your self. Defy the beliefs of others, and do not be tempted to wear the mask offered to you by society. Only then can you awaken to the truth you deserve."

The card dissipated into the darkness, leaving Thorne feeling a strange feeling in both his chest and his stomach. Soon, he too faded into the darkness.

Aug. 28, Thorne Blackwood's Residence, Charles Street, Vancouver; Early Morning

"Thorne, are you awake yet?" Thorne's grandfather called. "Get up, lazy boy."

"Huh?" Thorne gasped, sitting up in his bed. "I- uh- I'm up."

"Get out of bed," his grandfather ordered. "And get dressed. I won't have you living like you did at your parents' place."

Thorne groaned and got out of bed. He got dressed in an appropriate outfit for the late-August weather. His first instinct was to check his phone. Oh! To his surprise, he had received a friend request overnight. It was from Heather Holland. He accepted it, and went down to make himself breakfast.

Feeling lazy, he scrambled himself some eggs and poured them into a buttered pan. As they sizzled, his grandfather came downstairs. "There you are."

"Yeah, what's up?" Thorne asked.

"You're finally up. You know you're starting school in ten days," his grandfather reminded.

"Yes. I know. But that's ten days away. I'll be fine sleeping in for a couple more days of summer," Thorne argued. "You want eggs? I'm making some."

"No," his grandfather replied. "I'm gonna watch TV."

"Like always?" Thorne joked.

"Don't be rude, Thorne," his grandfather responded, and took a seat on his favourite leather sofa.

The eggs were quite good. Thorne silently congratulated himself on getting a bit better at cooking over the summer.

He got a message from Heather while eating. He checked his phone to see what she was saying.

"Do you ever get off that thing?" scoffed his grandfather.

Thorne ignored the rude interruption and checked the message that he'd received.

"Hey. It's me, the girl from the skytrain. We met yesterday. I saw your name and sent you a friend request. But you know that, LOL."

"Hey," he texted back. "What's up?"

"Oh, nothing," texted Heather. "Kinda stressed about school TBH. It's our last year of high school. I bet it's going to be tough." She continued texting, "It must be even more stressful for you. Switching schools for Grade 12 must really suck."

"I've been trying not to think about it TBH," responded Thorne. "Thanks for making me remember, aahh."

"Sorry!" texted Heather, including a flustered face at the end of her message. "Wanna hang out today?"

"Sure. I don't know where anything is though," he replied.

"Same! And I've lived here since I was ten! LOL!" she sent. "How about we go to Dollar Star?"

"Sure," he responded. "I could go for some wildly overpriced coffee."

"LOL!" Heather sent back. "Great! Meet me there at noon?"

"Wait, which one?" Thorne asked.

"Oh right. LOL," she texted. "The one on North Commercial Dr.?"

"Um… ok…" Thorne replied jokingly. In reality, he had no clue where that was. "I'll find it, LOL."

Aug. 28, Dollar Star, North Commercial Street, Vancouver; Noon

"Oh, hey, you made it!" Heather waved. "I was worried you'd get lost."

"GPS's," Thorne chuckled. "The real heroes of the modern day."

Heather had already received her order. She was drinking some ice frappuccino with caramel and whip cream on top.

"That looks good," Thorne commented.

"It is good!" Heather replied.

Thorne went up to the counter and ordered a drink for himself. Instead of getting a coffee like he'd mentioned, he instead ordered a refreshing fruit drink with dragonfruit juice in it. After receiving it, he went back to the table where Heather was sitting, on her phone.

"Who even does that?" Heather posted online, attaching an image of some girl reading a book and taking notes under the shade of a tree. "Doing homework in the middle of August, huh? What a no-life."

The subject of the photograph was a short girl with a small frame, and fluffy brown hair. She was wearing a skirt and a polo shirt. It was a strange outfit, but it at least looked comfortable in the hot, humid Southern B.C. weather.

Thorne hadn't seen Heather post the image or the caption. He sat down in the tall stool and placed his drink on the table. "For a Dollar Star on North Commercial Dr., at noon in the middle of August, it's not that busy."

"No," Heather replied. "It really isn't, huh? It's usually a hell of a lot busier, actually." Her phone dinged. Thorne noticed a cute black cat-shaped charm attached to the corner of her phone. "Ooh!" she gasped in response to the ding on her phone. "Wow, six likes on my new post already!"

"Oh, what post?" Thorne asked.

"Oh, nothing," Heather insisted. "Just something on this page I'm on with some… friends."

"Alright," Thorne responded. He sipped his drink and sighed from the refreshing, cooling taste of sugary fruit on a hot day.

They talked for a while longer about school and the upcoming Grade 12 year. Apparently, Thorne and Heather had at least two classes together in the first semester., those two classes being Math and English. Thorne also discussed how he had been put into a newly-enlisted Social Psychology class against his will. After a while, they both got up and said farewell. As Thorne packed up his bag, Heather was already on her way to the door.

"Oh, by the way," Heather added.

"Yeah?" Thorne acknowledged.

"You like sushi?"

"Oh, totally!"

"There's a great place, and it's not far from school," Heather explained. "It's called Ayaka Sushi. Maybe we should meet there sometime."

"Ooh, I've heard lots of good things about Vancouver sushi," Thorne smiled. "Let's talk about it later. See you later."

"See ya!" And with that, Heather was out the door.

Thorne found himself lost on the way back. Even finding the skytrain station was difficult. The GPS seemed to want to direct him down a very inconvenient path.


	3. Pr - Lost in an Unknown World

Aug. 28, Vancouver; Afternoon

Thorne wandered around the busy Vancouver streets, uneasily trusting his GPS even though it seemed like it wasn't working correctly. He zoomed out the map on the screen of his phone. He'd bookmarked the location of his grandfather's house on the edge of town, yet he knew he wasn't anywhere near there. The only way to make it there in a reasonable length of time was to catch one of the frequent skytrains, but the nearest skytrain station wasn't even nearby. "What the heck?" he groaned. "Where are you taking me?"

"In twenty meters, turn right," the GPS's robotic feminine voice said.

"What?" Thorne scoffed. "But I'm in an alley, thanks to you." He shrugged, shaking his head, but walked forward anyway.

"Turn right."

Thorne looked down at the screen. He then looked back up, then to his right, where we was supposedly supposed to go. "That's a wall."

He continued to walk forward, towards the other end of the alley. Maybe he could ask someone how to get to the skytrain station from here.

"Turn right."

"No," Thorne denied as he continued walking onward.

"Turn back and turn right."

"I swear to god…" He started to turn back, but as soon as he started walking he felt lightheaded. As he continued walking, everything got blurry until eventually everything was black.

When existence continued, the first thing Thorne saw were many bright lime-green sentences of computer code everywhere around him, before they began to form into what looked like an environment. He rubbed his forehead. "What the fuck…" he groaned.

Aug. 28, Location Unverified, PsykoNet; Afternoon

The environment that formed around him was full of red and yellow colours. There was a long hallway before him, with red carpets spanning over marbled floors, and trimmed golden walls with framed pictures on them. For the glamorous aesthetic of the environment, the pictures looked as if they'd been taken on a cell phone and posted online. They were pictures of people in modern clothes in modern situations, including selfies. However, something was notably off about them. Every subject in the photographs was wearing a masquerade mask over their eyes. Each masquerade mask looked pretty much identical, too, as if it were part of a uniform.

"Where am I?" he asked, not really expecting an answer. "I don't… remember falling asleep…" Curiously, he walked forward. He noticed there were some arching doors on both sides of the walls, but he was too disoriented to investigate. The door on the other end of the hallway was open, though. It led into a ballroom, with many other doors around it. There was a dramatic balcony above the ballroom and a case of curving stairs that look like they were straight out of Disney's Cinderella movie. Thorne looked around, taking in his surroundings, still totally unsure of where he was or how he'd gotten there.

Thorne's eyes caught on a woman. She looked young, and she wore a red, flowing princess-style dress. She elegantly walked along the landing at the top of the curving stairs. Her long, black, shiny, straight hair bounced as she walked. Her shoes must have been heels, as their sound echoed through the entire ballroom. Her back was turned to Thorne, though, so he couldn't see anything of her face. She walked through a large arched door at the top of the stairs.

"H-hey!" he called, making chase.

The woman ignored him. She simply kept walking through the door, which opened before her as if it was automatic, even though it was huge and made of wood and metal. Thorne hurried up the stairs, hoping to catch up to her. The chandelier swayed above. It was an absolutely marvelous chandelier, small jewels subtly reflecting the lights on the fixture.

"W-wait!" Thorne called, continuing to follow the well-dressed young woman. "What is this place? How did I get here!?" He shouted after her, but the huge door she'd walked through closed behind her without anyone even nudging it.

Thorne proceeded to the door. He expected maybe it would open for him like it had for the lady. However, it did not. He pushed on it… god, it was a heavy door. He did, however, manage to push it open just enough for him to squeeze through. Behind him, it made a loud sound as it shut itself from its own weight.

Thorne jumped at the loud noise, even though he knew what had made it. There was another long hallway, but Thorne could see the woman he had been pursuing. He noticed something shiny on her head… but it didn't quite look like a tiara or crown like he might have expected. It was red, like her outfit… or perhaps more of a ruby. It was a masquerade mask, just enough to cover her eyes and forehead. It looked different from the ones the people in the framed pictures were wearing, though. It featured a large red rose above her right eye and two horn-like protrusions where they would naturally belong.

"Excuse me!" shouted Thorne, in a demanding tone now. "Please, don't ignore me!"

"Oh!" the woman gasped, her shoulders raising in surprise. "Hello?"

The masked woman turned around. Thorne scrutinized her facial features. Something about her face… its structure… or her lips, perhaps… was undoubtedly familiar to him. But, of course, she was wearing a mask that covered her eyes. However, he could tell that her eyes were yellow. Not just yellow, a glowing gold. He reeled, slightly unsettled.

"Oh, a guest!" she said. "You're early! The ball hasn't even started yet!"

"What… ball…?" Thorne asked, shoulders now tense. "I-I'm lost… what is this place?"

"Why, this is my ballroom!" the finely-presented lady exclaimed, throwing out her arms as if to take in the exuberant setting's glory. "In just a few short days, we'll hold a ball here to celebrate my rise back into grace!"

"What the fuck…?" Thorne questioned. He looked down at his phone, something he hadn't thought to do since he'd found himself lost in the mysterious setting.

His phone screen displayed multiple bits of information that had never been there before. On the top of his phone screen, there were letters spelling out the word 'PsykoLink'. There was an image of a person on the screen, as well. In fact, it was an image of the masked girl standing right before Thorne's eyes. There was even a name underneath the image. 'Heather Holland' was apparently the name of the ominous young woman.

"H-Heather?" he asked. "Is that really you? What is all this?" he asked.

"Heather is indeed my name, my dear guest!" the young lady responded. "However, I need to ask you to leave. It'll spoil the party if you're here before it starts."

"H-how do I leave thought…?" Thorne inquired. "I don't know how to leave this place."

"I have preparations to make, so I must be going," the figure, apparently Heather, apologized. "Oh, I like your mask though. It really stands out."

Thorne felt his face, just to make sure he wasn't wearing a mask. He was indeed not wearing a mask, as he'd expected. "I'm not wearing a mask."

"Heheh," giggled the masked Heather, "don't be ridiculous. Everyone is wearing a mask these days. Cheerio!" With that, she pirouetted on her red heeled shoe, then continued walking down the hall, ignoring Thorne once again.

Thorne looked back at his phone. He immediately noticed that his home button refused to take him away from the screen that his phone was on. In fact, nothing he tapped on the screen or anywhere on the phone closed that screen. He fiddled around with his phone for a while, before finally coming on a button that said 'Exit'.

"Ah, I'll use this to close this darn screen and try calling my grampa or something," Thorne thought aloud. He tapped the button, but the app did not close. Instead, the ballroom around him disappeared yet again, and he found himself on the brink of passing out.

Aug. 28, Vancouver; Afternoon

Thorne held his head again. However, he now knew where he was again. That was reassuring, at least. "I'm… back in the alley?" he questioned, feeling the wall next to him and the concrete ground. "What the fuck just happened… did I fall asleep?"

He looked down at his phone. It wasn't automatically turned on like it had been in his dream. He turned it on, and it went to his regular home screen with all his apps on it. He noticed a new app on it, though. It had a green app thumbnail, with a P on it. The name of the app, as spelled underneath the thumbnail, was PsykoLink, apparently. Thorne thought about tapping the app… but stopped himself and shook his head. He walked out of the alley and into the street. There was a bus waiting at a stop on the sidewalk. He ran up to the bus. "Does this bus go near a skytrain station?' he asked.

The bus driver nodded. "Indeed-y we do," the bus driver confirmed. "The one on King Edward Ave."

"Oh, that's good," Thorne sighed in relief. He dug a toonie, which he was thankful he even had, out of his pocket and put it into the bus's coin slot. He took a seat and immediately went to text someone.

"Heather," he texted to the same-named contact. "I just went through the weirdest thing." He went on to explain what exactly had just happened in what he thought was a dream, then he also explained how the same app appeared on his phone when he woke up.

"Whoa, that's trippy," Heather responded, including an emoji face with swirly eyes.

After multiple bus stops, a skytrain ride, and more bus stops, he arrived at his grandfather's house. He immediately collapsed on the bed.

"Oh, by the way," Heather texted.

Thorne groaned as he heard the notification. He lazily removed his cell phone from his pocket and looked blankly at the screen. "What?" he replied, letting auto-complete fill in the word for him.

"Did you hear?" she asked. "The school is getting extra government funding this year, so they're giving the students free bus passes that are valid all year."

"Wow, cool," Thorne lazily replied, though he was exhausted from his stressful afternoon and just wanted to go to sleep, even if it was only the bud of the early evening. Which, he did.

REVIEW QUESTION: What are your thoughts on Psykonet and PsykoLink so far, even though not much has been revealed? What would you like to find out about PsykoNet/PsykoLink sooner rather than later?


	4. 1 - The Masquerade Draws Near

Sep.1, Thorne Blackwood's Residence, Charles Street, Vancouver; Early Morning

The last few days had passed uneventfully. At the very least, Thorne was now equipped with all the school supplies he was expected to have for the upcoming school year. It wasn't even 7:00 AM yet, but Thorne was awake. He lay in his bed, in his underwear, looking at the light coming through the window. He looked down at his phone. Nothing particularly new, except for a reminder that the first day of school was only six more days away. It was raining outside… what a surprise. "It always rains in B.C…." he groaned. He was actually surprised it had only rained once before since he had gotten to Vancouver.

He got out of bed and lazily got dressed, then went to the bathroom and washed himself, splashing cold water in his face to hopefully wake himself up. He looked at his reflection, and got a bit closer to the mirror. He used is reflection to fix his gray-tipped black hair into his preferred style. It looked like he had a little-tiny-bit more beard than the last time he checked. It still wasn't much, but it made him feel proud of himself.

It was a little bit later in the morning after he made breakfast. He got a text from Heather, which made his phone make a sound. He read it. "Hey. I desperately need coffee. Meet at Dollar Star again?" the text message read.

"Sure," he responded. He turned towards the bathroom door and shouted in the direction of his grandfather's bedroom, "I'm going out!"

No response.

Thorne switched his messaging app from Heather's messages to his grandfather's messages. There were a few messages already in the log, from the time before and immediately after Thorne had moved to Vancouver, but he sent a new one. "I'm out at Dollar Star when you read this. I'll be back before the afternoon probably."

Thorne grabbed his wallet and his house key and put them into the pockets of his denim jeans. He checked once more to ensure that he had everything, then went out to catch a skytrain closer to Commercial Dr.

Sep. 1, Dollar Star, North Commercial Dr., Vancouver; Late Morning

"Hey," Heather waved. She was already sipping on a hot high-caffeine beverage.

"What'cha got there?" Thorne asked.

"Maple macchiato with extra espresso," explained Heather with another sip of the hot beverage.

"Mm, sounds good," Thorne commented. "Maybe I'll get one."

He walked up to the counter, where he observed that the same barista was working today as the last time he had been there. "Oh, hey," he smiled. "You were here last time."

"That's… kinda what having a job does to you," the girl commented with a flat tone. "What can I get for you?"

The girl had an interesting look. She had an Asian-looking facial structure with the skin texture of a Caucasian person. She had long, straight hair that way gray at the roots and black at the tips; almost like the reverse of Thorne's.

Thorne thought for a moment, before thinking of how sweet Heather's drink smelled just from across the table. "Can I get one medium maple macchiato?"

"Would you like extra espresso with that, like your friend?" the barista inquired.

"No, I'm alright with it as normal," answered Thorne. He paid the girl using the debit card his grandfather had gotten him when he moved to the big city.

"Name?" the girl asked.

"Thorne."

"Is there an 'e' in that?" she asked.

"Uh, yeah."

"Perfect," she smiled. "That'll be ready for you in just a moment." She took a medium-sized paper cup out from underneath the counter and began the complicated-looking process of preparing the drink. Thorne managed a glance at her nametag. 'Snow' it said.

_Huh_, he thought internally. _Snow. Now that's an interesting name._

"You know," the girl commented. "I've never met someone named Thorne. I always thought it was a fairytale character's name."

Thorne made a sound of acknowledgement.

"You know, maybe like a rugged outlaw with messy hair, staring up longingly at the moon," she described.

"Well, I gotta admit," Thorne responded. "The moon is nice to look at. But I'm not an outlaw, as far as I know. Could you imagine?" He went on, "Moving to a new city and immediately being called an outlaw?"

"Oh, so you're new to Vancouver?" the barista asked.

"Well, yeah," he responded.

"Cool. Your drink's ready."

"Oh! That was fast." Thorne took the drink, thanked the barista, and went to sit down with Heather.

"So, how's the week gone for you so far?" Heather asked Thorne.

"So crazy…" sighed Thorne. "I've only been in Vancouver for a week and I've already… I don't even know."

"So, tell me about it," Heather inquired, crossing her fingers in interest and leaning forward.

"It was crazy…" Thorne began. He described, "I guess I passed out or something… I just remember getting lightheaded while walking through the alley… but no one else was there. I don't think it had anything to do with drugs, as much as it might sound that way. Anyway, when I woke up, er, 'woke up'," he said, gesturing with finger quotations, "it looked like a computer was starting up… and then I was in some mansion or something, and some girl was there. She was wearing a princess-y dress, and a mask, but her lips and chin reminded me of yours, and when I looked at my phone it said that she had your name."

"That's… bizarre…" Heather acknowledged. "Go on?"

"The girl said she was planning a ball in 'just a few short days'," he explained. "She said it was to celebrate 'rising back into grace' or something…"

"Like I said over texting, I definitely wasn't there," Heather confirmed. "Maybe you were dreaming?"

"But the app that appeared in my dream…" Thorne insisted. "It's on my phone now!"

"Lemme see."

Thorne turned on his screen. There, on the bottom-right of the screen, was the app, labeled PsykoLink. Unsure of what it would do, he hadn't dared touch it ever since it appeared. "I tried to delete it, but it says it can't be deleted."

"Maybe it's a virus. You should get your phone checked," Heather suggested.

Thorne sighed. "Maybe…" He had a thought… maybe, as idiotic of an idea as it seemed… maybe, he should touch it. Open the app, and see what happened. Even if it did take him to that place… he now knew how to escape in an instant.

Thorne finished the last sip of his macchiato. "You ready for school next week?" he asked.

Heather looked up from her phone. "Oh, uh, yeah," she said. "I guess."

"What are you doing on your phone?" Thorne asked.

"Oh, just on that group I told you about," she explained. She smiled at the screen.

There was a message on her screen. It read as follows: "Wow, haha, that outfit looks really cool. I can't wait to see you at school, Heather! You're cooler than I thought." The message was from a girl named Samantha.

Sep. 1, Heather Holland's Masquerade, PsykoNet; Late Afternoon

Moments before, Thorne had been sitting alone in the middle of a small park, watching the clouds glide through the briskly-winded sky. He had tapped the PsykoLink app that had appeared on his phone, even against his better judgement. To his surprise, it opened into a real, professional-looking application. There was space for a list of names, but only one name appeared. It said 'Heather Holland' and the picture of the masked girl was next to it in a neat box.

Thorne had tapped on Heather Holland's name. Coming here this time was considerably less disorienting. His head didn't even hurt this time. Though he did still lose his balance on the ground that appeared beneath him.

"I wonder what that would look like to anyone who saw it…" he muttered to himself. "Well…" he sighed, "we're here now… so now what do I do…?" He looked around. "I guess I might as well investigate."

He walked forward. The app had taken him to the same hallway that he had been brought to the first time. This time, though, he was tempted to walk through the doors on the sides of the hallways. To see what he could figure out about the bizarre happening.

His phone made a soft jingling sound, almost like the sound a video game would make to alert you that you've done something right. He checked it, curious what the sound was for. His phone screen was automatically turned on like before, and he noticed he couldn't turn off the screen even if he held down the power button itself. His phone gave off a green glow from its screen… There was something highlighted on the screen.

It was a tab; a button saying 'Map'. It appeared on the bottom of his screen, next to the tab which said 'Headquarters'. He touched it. The screen swiped over to an overview. It seemed to display a map… obviously. However, the map only showed the small area which Thorne had already walked through. Thankfully, he noticed that it also included the areas that he'd walked through on his last visit. "This is helpful," he smiled.

Quietly, he opened the heavy door closest to him. It gave a resounding creak, but no one seemed to be present, so he slinked inside, keeping his eyes sharp. The room looked similar to the hallway it was connected to, but it had furniture in it, and a bookcase. Thorne looked around, inquisitive about everything he saw. There was a flower vase on a glass-topped table positioned between two curvy red velvet couches. He snooped around the bookcase, scanning the books on it. Most of the books didn't seem to have anything written on their pages, but a couple of them did. Thorne flipped through the pages, glancing through for information that could help him figure out what was going on.

"In this age, it is imperative that everyone where a mask.

By accepting the masks given to you as gifts by the people around you, you may find true

Happiness."

It was structured like a poem, though the message was much more like a constitutional law.

"By accepting the masks given to you as gifts by other people?" Thorne asked. "I don't understand…"

Sep. 1, Heather Holland's Residence, King Junior Ave., Vancouver

Meanwhile, Heather had just arrived home. "Heather," her mother greeted. "Did you enjoy your day out on the town? Did you hang out with those girls from school?"

"Um… yeah… I did…" Heather lied.

"Well? How'd it go?" her mother asked.

"I… uh… went to Dollar Star… got a coffee…" she explained, retelling her day with Thorne as if it had been with a different person.

"I made lunch, dear," her mom said with a smile. "Tomato soup and grilled cheese. It's a bit cold by now, but the microwave still works." The woman chuckled.

"Thanks, but..." Heather sighed, "grilled cheese is too much for my stomach right now."

"What do you mean? You haven't eaten since last night's dinner," her mom asked, feeling a little let down.

"I'm just not hungry. I, uh… I had a snack at Dollar Star." That, too, was a lie.

"Oh… all right, honey, I trust you." Her mom turned back towards the sink and continued cleaning the dishes like she had been.

Heather went up to her bedroom and plugged in her dying phone to the wall. She continued to use it, though. She pulled up a social media app, and posted a photo to it. It was a photo of her drinking her maple macchiato. She imposed a hashtag onto the image. "#dollarstarlife" she typed. She sent it out for the world to see. Immediately, she was rewarded with a small handful of digital 'likes'.

Sep. 1, Heather Holland's Masquerade, PsykoNet; Late Afternoon

Thorne was surprised to see an image materialize on the empty page before him. The setting of the photograph looked familiar… Yes, he had been looking at it not that much longer than an hour ago as he had conversed with Heather over a maple macchiato at Dollar Star. There was a female subject in the middle of the photograph, using her arms to make her breasts appear larger. There was also an iconic Dollar Star paper cup in the frame. Notably, the girl in the photo was wearing a red mask… a suspiciously familiar red mask.

Thorne put down the book, and sneaked back into the central hallway. He cautiously continued, into the central ballroom. Again, and unsurprisingly, it was devoid of people. In fact, not even Heather's masked lookalike was present. He followed the path that he had taken before, trudging up the curved staircase and through the hallway on the second floor where he had confronted the mysterious imposter the first time. Or, the 'real' Heather as the character had insisted.

There was a door at the end of the long hallway which had a huge, comical-looking pad lock imposed on it. Golden chains stretched from the bejeweled lock to the corners of the glamorous, imposing door.

Knowing he couldn't go through the locked door, he decided to look through a different room. He turned into one of the side rooms. This one was a huge closet full of outfits. Some of the outfits were on mannequins, while some were just hung. However, one thing was notable. None of the outfits were particularly formal.

There was a pencil dress, a hiking outfit, an outfit made up of acid-washed jeans and a skimpy-looking cropped top, and a few beachy two-piece outfits on mannequins, while the rest hung along the myriad clothing racks.

"Who could possibly need this many clothes?"

Sep. 1, Heather Holland's Residence, King Junior Ave., Vancouver

Heather scrolled through her media profile, looking through the photographs of herself and others that she'd shared. She pulled on up. It was a photo she had taken while on a family trip to the beach the previous week. She was sitting under an umbrella, wearing a sunhat and a black two-piece swimsuit. She was wearing wedged sandals and her shiny hair had sand stuck to its tips.

The image had been received poorly. Maybe it was just bad timing… Heather sighed when she noticed that there were only two digital 'likes' on the image. One of the comments said "Black again? Get over this goth phase already. Goth isn't cool anymore, and never was." Other comments reflected that same sentiment. She swiftly deleted the image. The two-piece swimsuit from the trip was still laying on her messy floor. She picked it up.

She looked at it… she liked it, but there was clearly something wrong with it. It was too black. Her style was too black. She was trying to be a goth, when goth wasn't cool… but was she? She didn't really feel any desire to express herself that way. Regardless, she threw the swimsuit back onto the ground as the words 'Photo Successfully Removed' appeared on her screen.

A distraught sigh blew through her lips. Silently, she resolved that clearly she shouldn't wear that outfit ever again.

Sep. 1, Heather Holland's Masquerade, PsykoNet; Late Afternoon

Before Thorne's very eyes, one of the mannequins fell over. It was a mannequin which was wearing a black swimsuit and wedged sandals with a cute-looking sunhat. He went to catch the mannequin, worrying its fall might alert someone who might be present. However, it clattered to the floor before he could even get close. As it hit the ground, it, and the outfit on it, disintegrated into computer code like dust.

Thorne was shocked. Did things in this world frequently just evaporate into computer code? He stumbled back out of surprised.

Thorne left the room, and proceeded into the hallway. He looked at the glamorously-locked door at the end of the hall. He curiously walked up to it. He stood before its imposing glory, and put a hand to his chin in thought. What could possibly be hidden behind such a glamorous door? That's when he heard high-heeled footsteps.

They quickly got closer. A lot quicker than Thorne could have expected. He turned around, practically cornered by the locked door. He expected to see the Heather Holland clone from before.

"It's you again…" sighed the false Heather. "I supposed I should be honoured that you're so excited for my ball as to come six days early, but I really must insist that you contain your excitement. It will do me much help if you just waited for those six short days to pass."

"Six days until the ball, huh?" Thorne asked, inquisitive.

'Heather' nodded.

"Oh, sorry, I didn't know when it started. I was worried I'd miss it," Thorne cleverly fibbed.

"Well, now you're aware!" 'Heather' responded. "Although please, do come back in six more days."

"So the ball is on the 7th of September?" Thorne asked.

"Yes."

"Isn't that the first day of school?" he asked. "Do you expect a large turnout? People will be really busy that day, won't they?"

The masked hostess laughed, putting a silk-gloved hand up to her heavily made-up lips. "That's precisely why I planned it on that date! Nobody will ignore me on such an important date." She instructed, "Now, run along.,"

"Thank you for clarifying," Thorne sneered, fakely bowing from his shoulders. He pushed the 'Exit' button on his phone's screen and was taken back to the park. He didn't even lose his balance that time!

REVIEW QUESTION: Is it easy to tell when scenes switch between times, places, and perspectives? If not, do you have recommendations to make it easier to tell?


	5. 1 - I Am Thou, Thou Art I

Sep. 1, Thorne Blackwood's Residence, Charles Street, Vancouver; Late Evening

Thorne was finally home, and with more questions than answers, as he had just experienced things literally materializing and vanishing before his very eyes. At the very least, he had discovered that the Fake Heather's 'ball' was scheduled for September 7th, and likely had something to do with school starting. He was sitting at his computer, browsing his social media pages, when he looked down at his phone.

That application… it was certainly mysterious. Perhaps it could be of use to him. He looked back up at his computer screen, then turned his eyes back to his phone. He turned it on and went to his messaging app, where he sent a new message to Heather.

"Do you have any plans on the 7th?" he asked her.

"Um, no," she replied. "The 7th is the first day of school, why would I make plans on such a busy day?"

"I dunno, but… your doppelganger told me her 'ball' was going to happen on that day," responded Thorne.

"That's weird," Heather replied. "My mom is taking me out for dinner… I don't want to go, but I'll get some good food shots, L.O.L."

"Have fun," Thorne sent, then closed his phone.

"Thorne!" screamed his grandfather. "Get down here!"

Thorne applied pressure to his temple. He got up and proceeded downstairs. "What?"

"It's supper time," his grandfather insisted. "Eat."

"What'd you make?" Thorne asked.

"Macaroni. Now eat."

"Uh, okay then." Thorne sat down at the table and dug into the pasta. It was well made, actually.

Sep. 1, Jimano's Italian Restaurant, Vancouver; Late Evening

"Isn't this nice, Heather?" her mom asked. "Going out for dinner with your good ol' mom?"

"Yeah, it's nice," Heather blankly replied.

"Heather…" her mom sighed. "What's wrong? You've been so… quiet lately."

"It's nothing, mom," Heather answered. "I'm just… stressed… I guess…"

"Over what, honey?" asked her mother.

"Over… school… I guess…" sighed Heather.

"I'm confident you'll do great," her mom smiled. "You've always done good in school."

"Yeah, but… I'm worried about… never mind…"

"Heather… I'm your mom, you can tell me."

"It's nothing, really," insisted Heather.

Her mom took a sip of the cold water that the waiter had given to her. "Oh, honey… I'm worried… is everyone treating you all right?"

"Yes, mom. Can we stop?" Heather groaned.

"Oh… all right…" her mother sighed. "Please eat tonight. You haven't been eating lately. You haven't been on one of those fad diets, have you?"

"Mom! I said stop!" Heather snapped.

"I-I'm sorry…" her mother apologized. "Do you know what you're going to order?"

"Give me a second, please," Heather harrumphed, attempting to stay composed.

Sep. 2, Heather Holland's Masquerade, Psykonet; Late Morning

Thorne had left a note on the counter saying that he would be out with a new friend, looking to find some new clothes for school. Obviously, that was a lie, since he was now inside the mystery mansion with the fake Heather in it once again.

He had a clear objective in mind, now. He somehow knew that if he could get inside that glamorous locked door, he would find answers as to what this fake Heather was on about.

Therefore, the objective was this: Find the key to get into the locked door.

Thorne thankfully remembered which rooms he had been in before. Therefore, he simply had to investigate new areas for clues, and of course, keys. He made his way to the main ballroom area. There were at least three hallways leading from the main ballroom. There was the one he had come out of, one across from the dance floor, and one to the right. His head shifted back and forth between the two hallways.

Suddenly, he noticed something high up on one of the walls. Above one of the picture frames adorning the ballroom walls, there was something black and sharp-edged. Upon closer inspection, it appeared to be… a security camera.

It was remarkably out-of-place against all of the glamorous, castle-like decorations in the area… had the false Heather installed security cameras because she was suspicious of him?

He heard the familiar footsteps of the ominous character's high heels. He ducked behind the door he was standing next to, but peered out just enough to see what would unfold.

'Heather' walked out from the hallway on the balcony floor. She seemed to also notice the security camera.

"Ugh," she groaned. "Why is everyone so concerned with what I do?" She sounded distraught. "All of this prying is going to ruin my masquerade ball!" she yelped. "Just look at that camera… it totally clashes with the picture frames… and I put so much work into plotting them out perfectly…"

Thorne slid back fully behind the cover of the door. He thought to himself… Heather's doppelganger wasn't the one who installed the security camera? Then who had installed it? And for what purpose?

The carbon copied Heather glared directly into the camera. "I'm fine! I swear! Stop grilling me! Hmph…" She proceeded down the stairs, still glaring at the camera. Thorne noticed a glow in her yellow eyes…

Thorne snuck out from behind his hiding spot, and confirmed that Heather had disappeared. Then, he sprinted across the entire width of the ballroom to the hallway on the other end. To his surprise, it led out into a courtyard garden.

There was a fountain in the middle of the pristine garden. However, Thorne immediately noticed that the sky looked nothing like it should… It was a very unnatural violet colour, with strange wisps circling around it instead of clouds or sunlight. It was as if the entire sky revolved around the mansion…

The outside walls of the mansion were just as glamorous as the inside, made of pristine maroon wood panelling and golden trim. There were windows around the courtyard, and each of the windows was made of iron bent into intricate floral patterns.

"Wow…" Thorne couldn't help but be impressed.

What he didn't notice, however, was that a pair of glaring, glowing golden eyes peered down at him from a window on the second floor.

Heather's copy turned around. In the room with her were several other figures. From their appearance, they seemed to be guards, dressed in the same red and gold scheme as the room they stood in. Their intricate outfits were somewhat dulled by their generic-looking masks, though. The masks looked like the ones worn by everyone in the paintings around the mansion, other than Heather herself.

"Thorne claims to be innocent, yet I'm suspicious…" Heather's copy snarled, looking back out the window as Thorne looked around. "He continues to come here and snoop around my ballroom, even after I've asked him to wait… It's unfortunate, but I'll just have to revoke his invitation…" She turned back to face the many guards whose attention was unanimously focused on her. She chuckled, "I love when people look at me…" Her face hardening, she continued, "You, as the guards of my ballroom and its quests, will find him, and dispose of him. Understood."

The guards gave a unanimous "Yes ma'am!"

"Good… we don't want any interruptions that could jeopardize my celebration."

With that, the guards, who were ominously lacking in distinguishable facial features, set out into the halls. The stakes were officially raised.

However, Thorne was wholly oblivious to what was being transpired against him. He continued to investigate. "It's a pretty garden… nice roses…" he muttered to himself. He took one of the roses in his hand and gave it a sniff. It smelled unlike a natural rose… instead, it smelled like a highly-concentrated perfumed. He coughed, not expecting such a strong scent from what otherwise seemed like an entirely natural flower.

There was a balcony that overlooked the courtyard, and lucky for Thorne, there was a stone staircase that led up to it. The railings of the staircase were entwined in flaccid vines that smelled like sweetened wine.

Thorne entered back into the mansion from the door on the balcony. "Hey," he sounded. "It's that locked door again…" He noticed that it appeared that he was standing inside a hall that connected to the one where he had confronted Heather's doppelganger.

"There's so many doors… at this rate, I'll never find anything…" he groaned.

He followed the hall back to the main ballroom. However, he stumbled as he walked into the ballroom itself. He gasped, yet cut himself off in trying to be silent.

There were people! Specifically, people in red and gold suits, and strange-looking hats.

He went to step back into the solitudinous hallway, however he ran into something.

"Ah!" he gasped, stumbling forward. He stumbled so far he nearly fell down the stairs!

"You," the figure he'd bumped into said in a flat tone. "Are you a spy?"

"A-a spy?" Thorne asked, chuckling awkwardly. "Of course not. That's ridiculous."

"Regardless, I have instructions to dispose of you," the faceless masked guard went on.

"Dispose of me!?" Thorne yelped. "Instructions from who!?"

"From the Hostess," the guard answered. "I will obey Her Beauty."

With that, the guard suddenly began to grow in size… Thorne watched in captivated horror as the uniform and the very skin of the guard tore apart. He winced as a new body crawled out gorily from the body of the faceless guard. The now-empty husk of the guard's body disintegrated into pixels, as if fading to dust.

Who now stood before Thorne was a tall, broad-shouldered man with pale indigo skin and an intricate outfit fit for royalty. Despite having a face, it was featureless, as the guard's had been, and on top of the man's head was a glamorous crown with jarring jewels embedded into it.

"I am Prince Charming. You will bow to me," the transformed guard ordered. "Then, you will fall at my blade." The transformed guard, claiming to be Prince Charming, unsheathed a sharp cutlass which sat at his waist.

Thorne yelled, and made a dash down the stairs, only to find the guards on the dance floor already having begun to transform as well.

Gruesomely, one of them transformed into a ghostly-looking horse. A golden hand ripped right through the chest of the third guard, followed by the rest of a golden body. A motionless statue soon pierced out of the torso of the guard.

"I am The Ideal," said the exaggerated female statue of gold. "You will fall before my influence."

"Oh my god…" Thorne gulped, unable to scream even though he wanted to. He found himself backing up right into the middle of a circle created by the three terrifying figures.

The statue who had called itself The Ideal, even without being able to move, created a ball of shadowy energy in front of its large chest. It launched the orb of darkness directly at Thorne. Thorne's eyes darted around the ballroom, looking for a way to escape the three enemies who were quickly closing in on him!

He dove out of the way of the ball of shadows, narrowly dodging it! It hit the ground, doing no damage to marble flooring but exploding into a radius of dark energy. Thorne watched the explosion in shock. The ghostly horse was now charging at him! He attempted to run, but found himself getting knocked back by an intense punch from the enemy who claimed to be called Prince Charming!

Thorne flew backwards, defenseless! He landed on his back on the ground, a tenderness already able to be felt in his chest. Prince Charming walked confidently towards his weak, shocked body. Prince Charming held his sword out in front of him.

The evil prince swung his sword down at Thorne! Thorne, petrified, threw his arm up in front of him, even though he knew it would do nothing to help him. Thorne shut his eyes in horror.

"Thorne…" a voice echoed through the walls. "Thorne. Awaken."

Suddenly, everything froze in time. Prince Charming's sword was only a few inches from Thorne's lifted arm. Thorne gasped, his throat too tight to scream, before he opened his eyes to find himself safe.

He looked around. Cautiously, he crawled backwards away from the enemy. He attempted to get up, but was still winded from the blow to the chest and could hardly raise himself to his knees.

"This adversity is where your path begins, not where it ends."

"W-who's there?" Thorne asked, panting painfully. However, he felt oddly safe.

"It is I, yourself. I am the truth within your heart. I am your identity."

Another figure appeared before Thorne. The figure was surrounded by an inviting azure glow. It was a tall man, with a blank face and ginger sideburns which connected to an intricately-styled head of soft ginger hair. There were two sleek pauldrons attached to the man's shoulders. Each of them had the symbol 'IIB' (or 2B) written on them, however the one on the right shoulder had the IIB symbol crossed out by intense-looking slash marks.

The man wore a stylish violet trench jacket with a high collar and an interesting bottom which flared out into what looked to be a skeleton of fabric. In his hand was a rapier with an intricate guarded handle. On the tip of the rapier was a skull, with a few scratch marks in it.

Most notably though, there was a visor that covered the man's eyes like sunglasses. It looked like a crown of gold, with jewels in it, however it fit on the figure's head like ski goggles. It didn't appear to be made of glass, though, so how could it be seen through? Reflective red blood was patterned on the man's sharp cheeks, as if the visor had caused the man's eyes to bleed.

"W-…" Thorne could barely form words. "Who are you…?"

"I am Hamlet, the Prince of Denmark. But more importantly, I am thou, and thou art I. I am your true self, Thorne. I am the identity you fight to express. From hereon, I am your Persona. And I could not be prouder for it."

"My Persona…?"

"Thorne, you are unique. Your identity cannot and will not be changed by the expectations of others. You are more powerful than what people think you should be. I've been waiting for you to awaken to me."

Thorne grinned as Hamlet faded. He felt a power inside him. "Persona!" he shouted, proud.

Suddenly, time flared back into motion like a bomb had gone off! A powerful blast erupted form Thorne's body, knocking back all three of the enemies! The air grew cold as shards of ice formed in it.

Hamlet appeared again, this time behind Thorne's shoulders. He let go of his skull-tipped rapier, and it hovered in the air around him. Thorne thrusted his arm forward, and Prince Hamlet did the exact same!

The ice shards that had formed in the air shot into each of the enemies, causing them evident pain!

"I will not die to you like you say I will! My life is mine to live, and no one's decisions have the power to challenge my agency of self!" Thorne shouted, looking smugly at the wounds his ice attack had inflicted on his enemies. "I am me!"

Prince Charming and the ghost horse enemy's blank eyes went wide, as did their mouths. The Ideal could not open her metallic mouth, but gasped instead.

"Did the boy just dare to remove his mask?!" Prince Charming asked, in utter shock.

"Don't be a fool," Thorne responded, filled with new confidence. "I never had a mask to wear in the first place! I refuse to hide behind a false identity…" He looked up at the chandelier above him as if it was the sun. "I will save you, Heather."

It wasn't until he had a moment to breathe that Thorne even realized he looked different. He looked much more like he belonged in a ballroom. His clothes had autonomously transformed into a stylish, form-fitted tuxedo, complete with luxurious-looking dress shoes. All in black, with the exception of a very comfortable white dress shirt. On top of that, though, a visor of cyan light had appeared in front of his face, like a holographic visor from a sci-fi movie!

"Wow, cool!" he noted. He adjusted the bow tie which had appeared around his neck. "I look like a spy!"

Prince Charming charged for Thorne, his bejeweled cutlass ready to strike. However, Thorne's holographic visor allowed him to predict the corrupt prince's next move!

"And… Counter!" he shouted, standing confidently with his arms crossed.

Suddenly, Hamlet was summoned behind him, just in time to use his rapier to slash Prince Charming's cutlass right out of his very hand! Following up with disarming the evil prince, Hamlet then kicked the enemy back with a strong armoured boot! Prince Charming was pushed back! When he landed on his back, he disappeared into an explosion of pixels!

"Nice!" Thorne self-congratulated, pumping his fist. He held out his hand, and a ball of icy cold sub-zero energy formed inside it. He looked between The Ideal and the yet-unnamed horse enemy. He launched the ball of sub-zero energy at the horse enemy, who was encased in ice as a result! The Ideal launched another show attack at Thorne! It made contact with him, causing him considerate pain for multiple seconds! However, Thorne, and Hamlet at his back, persevered, and went straight for The Ideal!

He reached down towards his hip, where he found exactly what he expected… a pistol! "Cool! My Persona gave me a gun!" As he dashed towards The Ideal, he readied himself to shoot the pistol. "Oh gosh," he panicked. "I've never fired a gun!"

He fumbled with the pistol, just long enough for The Ideal to shoot another ball of dark energy at him! He endured the pain, then fired the gun at The Ideal out of sheer spite.

Despite being made of gold, the bullet pierced the enemy. The Ideal tipped over, and fell helplessly to the ground. As The Ideal hit the ground, she shattered into many shards of gold, which then proceeded to depixelate, just like Prince Charming's body had.

The unnamed horse enemy looked at Thorne with terror in its eyes. It was frozen in ice, and Thorne was pointing a pistol at it. It was helpless to defend itself!

"Hm…" Thorne thought aloud. "I've got different plans for you."

Suddenly, the entire world around both Thorne and the enemy seamlessly transformed into a dark room… The only light was a dim, swaying light attached to the ceiling by a long chain, through which the wires were woven. There wasn't much decoration. Only an office plant, and a large executive desk in the middle of the room, with two chairs on either end. It was immediately recognizable. It looked exactly like an interrogation room from pretty much any crime movie!

Thorne wasn't disoriented by the relocation at all. The ice entrapping the enemy thawed, but they had nowhere they could run to. Not only that, but they had somehow become tied up at their limbs while the room had transformed.

"What do you want?" the horse asked, nervously looking around.

"Oh, so you can speak?" Thorne acknowledged. "That'll be helpful to you r case. Name?"

"I am the King's Horse," the enemy responded.

"The King's Horse, huh?" Thorne sat down in the chair on the side across from the tied-up hostage. "Tell me, what are you?"

"I am a Shadow, of course," the King's Horse answered, scoffing. "You didn't know that?"

Thorne pulled back on his pistol until the trigger made a click, symbolizing it was ready to be fired.

"You don't… know how to use that thing…" the King's Horse teased, attempting to verbally disarm Thorne. But it evidently didn't work.

"You just saw me use it," Thorne replied without much expression. "You're a Shadow…? I see… What is this place?"

"Well… we're in Heather's Headquarters… p-please don't shoot me."

"You attempted to murder me," Thorne reminded in the same unenthused tone. He mumbled to himself, "Heather's… Headquarters…?"

"I-it was an order…!" the King's Horse attempted to defend.

"Right, right… I'll let you go unharmed on one condition."

"A-anything!"

"No one ever hears about this."

"Deal!" the King's Horse enthusiastically agreed.

"And… money," Thorne added.

"That's two conditions!" the King's Horse whimpered.

"So?" Thorne chuckled, pointing his pistol directly at the hostage. "I don't have to let you escape alive in the first place. You should be thanking me."

"Y-you're… evil…" the King's Horse sighed.

"And you're not human," Thorne reminded. "And, again, you attempted to murder me."

"Fine!" the king's Horse reluctantly agreed. "How much?"

"I could be evil… but I'll ask for a measly… hundred C.A.D."

"Take it! Please, let me go!" Money materialized on the table between Thorne and the hostage.

Thorne scooped up the money and put it into the pocket of his tuxedo. "Thanks. Alright, fine, you can go." He went around and untied the bovine hostage. "Thank you for your cooperation."

As the Shadow dashed away as fast as it could on its rope-burned hooves, the interrogation room transformed back into the ball room it had been before. Thorne adjusted the cuffs of his tuxedo sleeves. "Wow," he chuckled, "I feel like a spy now too!"


	6. 1 - Enter: Android 07

Sep. 2, Heather Holland's Masquerade, Psykonet; Afternoon

With the enemies cleared, Thorne proceeded with the newfound confidence given to him by his Persona, Hamlet. There were a few more halls to explore, but there was only one connected to the ballroom that he hadn't been down. He proceeded.

The hall led to a downward staircase, which led to yet another hall. Thankfully, it didn't appear like there were any guards in this area, but Thorne walked onward with appropriate caution nonetheless. There were mirroring doors on either side of the hall, but Thorne opted to go for the door at the end of the hall instead. He assumed that maybe it would lead to an exit… not that he knew what to expect outside the mansion.

He peered through the door… there was no exit there… even though he was sure there had to be. It was as if the interior of the mansion was the entire world in this strange place.

The door led into a dining room, with a dining table and a smaller chandelier above it. There was mouthwatering, perfect-looking food laid out on the lengthy dining table. He snooped around, scrutinizing everything his eyes landed upon.

A lot of the items on the table were packaged and labeled as if they had been bought from Dollar Star. This included many drinks, hot and cold. Thorne was tempted to take a bite out of a perfectly-sliced meat and cheese sandwich…. he couldn't help himself! He pulled it into his mouth and took a big bite!

It was delicious. Just like as if he'd bought one from Dollar Store himself. "Mm-mm!" he sounded, licking his lips. "Wow, tastes so real."

He continued to look around. There were a lot of selfies of Heather on the dining room's walls, fancily framed like the rest, right down to her doppelganger's ruby mask. In fact, Thorne had seen a bunch of these while scrolling through Heather's accounts in real life… except, of course, none of them had masks imposed on them in real life.

Thorne decided to leave before he was tempted to eat the entire dining spread. The next room he investigated wasn't locked… but it probably should have been. He entered with caution… there were already guests inside, despite the masquerade not having officially begun. The guests inside were all girls. They had surprisingly more recognizable facial features than the guards, though… and they gave off a different aura. Thorne's visor didn't identify them as a threat… he decided to trust his visor.

As he walked in, one of the girls gasped, covering her mouth in shock. The gasp caused the other girls to look at what caused her to gasp. They were also in shock when they saw.

"I-is he not wearing a mask!?" one of the girls yelped.

"N-no. He's n-not," the girl standing next to her stuttered, lip quivering in utter fear.

Thorne scowled in the ladies' direction, and continued to investigate as if nothing had happened. The pictures in this room were all of other people. There were plaques underneath the pictures' frames, too, which told the titles of the paintings.

The first painting that caught Thorne's eye was one of a young girl with fluffy brown hair, sitting under a tree and writing in a notebook. She wore a skirt and a polo shirt… it wasn't stylish, but at least it looked comfy in the hot city weather depicted in the painting. The girl was seated under a tree. He looked down at the plaque underneath the painting to see its title. "No-Life" the plaque read.

He looked at another painting. It was of a boy with messy brunette hair with dark streaks and a large, muscled-looking body. There was a faint scar on the boy's cheek that looked to be very old. The painting depicted the boy simply walking in the direction of the school from the parking lot, although he was hunched over and his large hands were in his pockets.

Thorne peered down at the painting's plaque to see its title. "Aimless Delinquent" it read. Thorne though to himself… _what a rude gallery_… The last painting on the wall was crooked, as if it had been partially pulled off its hooks.

Thorne recognized the subject of the painting immediately. It was a boy in a white and black sweater with gray-tipped black hair, facing towards the bar counter of a Dollar Star. "Is that… me?" he gasped.

His eyes darted down to the plaque on the wall under the painting, almost with anger. "Totally Fucking Insane" the plaque read.

"Hey!" he shouted. He grabbed the painting and threw it off its hooks, letting it crash to the ground and fall face-down. The other girls in the room all yelped and jumped back in shock, the liquid inside the wine glasses they were holding sloshing out and dripping to the ground.

"That's it… I'm finding the bottom of this…!" he proclaimed, his fist in a tight ball.

Suddenly, he heard a commotion outside. He ran up to the door and pulled it back just enough for him to see through.

"Catch that intruder!" he heard Heather's voice call.

Suddenly, he heard frantic footsteps… it sounded like the footsteps were made by metal shoes! They were quite loud, frankly. The clanging of the frantic footsteps echoed through the tight hallway. Thorne saw who had been making the sounds.

It looked like… a robot? Not like anything he'd ever seen before. No, this looked like a full-on future sci-fi robot. Then, he saw the guards who were gaining on the sprinting bot! When he saw the guards, he quickly slid behind the door so as to not be detected by them.

"You won't get away… whatever you are!" one of the guards shouted as they made chase against the robotic runner.

The robot had run right into the dining room… which was a dead end, as Thorne had already discovered. He hadn't had enough time to diagnose just what that robot was… was it a Shadow? Or something else, like the women in the gallery? However, he knew that since he had a Persona, he had to help it!

He waited for all the guards he could see to pass by the door he was hiding behind, then followed them into the dining room!

"My intent is not to cause harm or trouble," the robot said in a mechanical voice. "I do not wish to perpetuate conflict with this Headquarters or its Boss."

"How are we supposed to believe you?" one of the guards scoffed.

The robot was cornered by guards. The whole room was full of guards… What could Thorne do? He couldn't fight all of the guards on his own! He pressed his finger against his temple out of stress.

Suddenly, everything went darker as his holographic visor lit up a plan of action before his very eyes. A line of light had been drawn between Thorne's perspective and the actual dining room. It weaved between the guards, and even ricocheted off one of the walls at one point. Thorne wasn't sure he was agile enough to pull off such a maneuver… but he had to try!

He pushed off on one foot, immediately breaking into a dash! He kicked over one of the guards, who never saw or heard him coming from behind! The guard toppled over, shocked, and collided with another guard, who fell backwards as well! Thorne then punched a nearby guard square in the gut before they could react! The guard was unprepared and became winded, unsteady on their own very feet. Thorne ducked down and slid underneath the legs of another guard, flipping them right over!

He quickly got back up to his feet and readied his pistol… and… jumped! His weight pressed against the wall, and as he jumped off he fired a bullet through one guard's shoulder and into the chest of another! He grinned as he glided through the air in what felt like slow motion. He landed in a roll right next to the robot who he had been protecting. He took a breath, and fixed his hair, before getting up and getting into a combat stance.

He watched as the injured guards split apart into Shadows one by one, until the room was full of angry Shadows.

"Thank you, agile spy," the robot thanked, bowing at it mechanical shoulders. "That was very… impressive."

"Aw, gee, thanks!" Thorne grinned, blushing. "It was nothing. You okay?"

"My diagnostics determine that I am unharmed," the robot responded. "I am Android 07. Pleased to meet you."

"Thorne." He prepared his pistol for another shot. "And the pleasure's all mine! Hamlet!"

Hamlet materialized behind Thorne's shoulder, poised for a tense battle!

"Brutus!" the robot called.

To Thorne's surprise, a Persona appeared behind the android's back as well. It was a large-bodied Persona with a Gladiator helmet and armour. However, it was no traditional Roman armour! The helmet covered the Persona's eyes, and a line of red light glowed where its eyes would be. Thorne internally likened it to RoboCop. Not only that, but the Persona's armour also looked to be from a sci-fi. Other than the armour, though, the Persona appeared to be human, like Hamlet.

The persona had a regular gauntlet on its left hand, while the gauntlet on the right hand tapered into an intricate dagger-like blade with golden olive-vine detailing! Needless to say, the dagger somewhat clashed with the high-tech armour of the Persona.

"Wow…" Thorne sounded. "You have a Persona too?"

"It is part of my equipment as an Android," explained Android 07. "Caution, Thorne!"

Suddenly, a rapier blade was being thrust towards Thorne! He was almost caught off guard, but activated a Counter just in time! Hamlet slashed his own rapier against the enemy's rapier with enough force to knock the enemy back! The skull removed itself from Hamlet's rapier's tip and floated in the air as Hamlet thrust the sharp end of the now-untipped rapier right into the formal-dressed Shadow's diaphragm, causing great damage! Hamlet flourished his weapon for a brief moment before the skull put itself back on the tip of it.

"Skillful," commented Android 07.

One of the Shadows, this one another Prince Charming, attacked Android 07! The Android, however, dodged the attack, and dealt an attack of its own!

"Brutus!" the Android called. A bright cyan power built up inside the robot's chest, which it allowed to float up towards its Persona, who was apparently named Brutus. Brutus centered the cyan energy in front of itself, before dramatically slashing the gold-trimmed dagger through it, causing it to split into many lines of energy! The lines of energy made arches through the air, and made contact with multiple Shadows on their way down!

"What was that?" Thorne asked.

"A Nuclear attack," explained the Android.

"Persona!" Thorne shouted, clenching his fist. Suddenly, out of nowhere, an intense gust of wind and snow, like a hyper-concentrated blizzard, shot through the room, blasting through multiple Shadows!

Suddenly, a blast of fire flew through the air! It hit Thorne right in the chest! "Take that!" scoffed the attacker. The attacker was another one of the King's Horse Shadows.

"Ow! Fuck!" Thorne shouted, holding his chest in pain. However, the pain was only temporary. Somehow, despite being his with literal fire, Thorne had avoided being burned. It didn't even singe his fitted tuxedo!

The Prince Charming who had attacked Android 07 now attempted to attack Thorne! However, Thorne fired a bullet right into the Shadow's face before he could slash his cutlass into him. Prince Charming fell back and disintegrated.

"One Shadow eliminated," Android 07 confirmed.

Android 07 pressed a button on its wrist, which caused its arm to reform, changing its hand into some kind of cannon! Android 07 ran out into the fray, and blasted a few blasts of the same Nuclear energy at some of the Shadows out of the cannon that had replaced its hand! It didn't seem to do as much damage as when it had called upon its Persona to attack, but it was still effective!

Thorne stayed back, and used Hamlet's power to launch ice shards at the Shadows, like he had before! Many of the Shadows were defeated by the onslaught of sharp ice shards and concentrated Nuclear blasts.

There were only two Shadows left now. A maiden with long braided hair, and a golden chalice with a bloody red liquid inside and an also-golden snake wrapped around it which had jewels where it would have eyes if it were living.

"State your names," Thorne demanded.

"I don't have to tell you anything," the maiden challenged.

Thorne pointed his pistol at the maiden's face, and slowly pulled back the trigger.

"If you insist. My name is Belle," answered the Shadow. Belle snapped her fingers, which caused the air around her to become distorted, as if she were in the center of an intense heat wave. But that obviously wasn't the case. With another snap of her fingers, the disorienting air waves flew towards Thorne.

They rammed into him with way more force than they looked like they were able to muster! Thorne was knocked over! He squinted his eyes in pain as he fell to his ass. When he opened his eyes again, he could barely see straight. It was like everything was spinning!

"On no!" Android 07 shouted, although still in a mechanical tone. "Thorne has been struck with confusion!"

Belle prepared a blast of fire, and launched it as Thorne while he was too disoriented to react! Even though he couldn't see straight, he could feel the heat intensifying as it went straight for him!

"Brutus!" Android 07 called. "Now!"

Brutus appeared behind Android 07 yet again, and then dashed through the air and dug his dagger deep into Belle's stomach! He rammed Belle, who was on the tip of his dagger, into the wall, where she promptly depixelated.

Thankfully, now that Belle was gone, the fire she launched at Thorne also depixelated into nothingness. Thorne shook his head and got up, a little unsteady. He looked around. He could see straight mostly again.

"You," he said, glaring at the golden chalice Shadow while rubbing his head as his vision unblurred. "What are you supposed to be?"

"I am the Poisoned Chalice." The words flowed out from the snake's mouth even though the metal snake couldn't move its mouth. As such, all of the 's' syllables dragged on into hisses. "Feel the intensity of my poison!" The liquid inside the chalice bubbled up, raising up above it as if a fountain had just been turned on. The liquid was then launched towards Thorne like spit. Thorne dodged the trajectory, though, and shot a bullet right through the Poisoned Chalice! Like with the Shadow named The Ideal, even though the Poisoned Chalice was made of metal, the bullet pierced it like flesh. It clattered to the ground, spilling its contents, which collectively evaporated along with its golden body.

"You are very skilled in the use of a Persona," Android 07 robotically complimented. "As well as a gun, actually."

"Thank you!" Thorne smiled. "I could say the same for you. Uh… Android 07. Is it okay if I give you a nickname?"

"I am capable of responding to any name you assign to me," Android 07 answered.

"Um… how about… Seven?" Thorne suggested.

"I will hereby respond to when being called 'Seven'."

"Awesome… So…" Thorne thought of how to interact with a robot. "Seven… what exactly… are you?"

"I am an Android. Specifically, the seventh model deigned to assist PsykoLink users."

"I see… so… you were made specifically to help people who end up here?"

"Correct."

"So, can you answer my questions?" Thorne asked. "I have… many."

"I am equipped to answer most questions regarding PsykoLink and PsykoNet.," Seven confirmed.

"Great!" Thorne excitedly cheered. "Where do I even start? Well… what is Psyko…Link? Net? Whichever. What exactly is this place?"

"PsykoLink is simply the app-portal used to access the PsykoNet, which is where you are currently. More specifically, you're inside the Headquarters belonging to Heather Holland. PsykoNet is a manifestation of the online world. More specifically, it portrays someone's world as onlookers from social media would see it."

"Oh… so… this is what people see when they look at Heather's social media pages?" Thorne asked. "I… don't quite follow… I've been following Heather since I met her, and I've never once seen her talk about a mansion or a ball."

"PsykoNet is linked to social psychology," explained Seven. "Rather than portraying the literal things that people observe on a person's online platform, it portrays what is presented in a perceptive sense. It is a rather complicated platform, I know."

"So then… tell me, why is this place presented as a mansion with a ballroom?"

"I cannot tell you that precisely, as I do not actually know what Heather presents on her social media. If you show me, I could perhaps help you formulate an answer."

"Oh… I see… Hm… the other Heather said it had something to do with school starting… Um, could you tell me what's up with Heather's doppelganger?" asked Thorne, contemplating.

"The person you are referring to is actually Heather's own Shadow," explained Seven. "As this place, her Headquarters, is represented of her online platform, her Shadow is representative of her online identity. Shadows can only exist if someone's real identity and online identity are disassociated from one another."

"I… I think I get it…" Thorne sighed. "That's a lot to learn... all at once… but it's helpful knowledge. So, you wanted me to show you Heather's online activity?" Thorne offered. He pulled out his phone, temporarily forgetting it was stuck on the PsykoLink app. "Uh… how do I get to my other apps?"

"You cannot close the PsykoLink app while you're inside PsykoNet," Seven explained.

"Oh…" Thorne shrugged. "Sorry, I guess I can't show you her online activity then."

"You should probably go," Seven suggested.

"Huh? Why?"

"It isn't particularly dangerous to stay here. However, there are still Shadows to be cautious of, and your Persona can't restore its power until you return to the real world."

"Oh. I didn't know that. But hey, what about you?"

Seven said, "As an Android built specifically to function within PsykoNet, my Persona's abilities function differently from those of humans."

"Will you be okay?" Thorne worried.

"I will be fine. Given that I am a computer, and PsykoNet technically exists online, it is difficult to explain my abilities to a human who exists in reality. However, I can confirm that I am at no risk of harm. Perhaps I will be able to explain better at a later point."

"All right…" Thorne sighed. "As long as you'll be okay. Um, I'll probably see you again soon, if you're still gonna be here for a few days."

"You will most likely see me again sooner than that."

"Uh… okay… well, bye," Thorne smiled while waving goodbye to his new robotic friend. He pressed the 'Exit' button on his phone's screen and was taken back to reality.

Sep. 2, Vancouver; Late Afternoon

Thorne immediately opened his texting app and looked for Heather's message log. There was a missed message from her.

Thorne didn't even notice that his outfit had changed back to his jeans and a sweater from before. He read Heather's missed message.

"Hey. Wanna hang out again? I need to get away from my mom."

"Heather," he sent. "We need to talk. Why is there a picture of me in your Headquarters titled 'Totally Fucking Insane'?"

"What? I don't even know what a Headquarters is," Heather responded.

Sep. 2, Heather Holland's Residence, King Junior Ave., Vancouver; Late Afternoon

Meanwhile, on Heather's end, she received a message from her group chat.

"Haha," texted someone from her group chat. "Is that the guy who keeps talking about going to another world? He sure looks insane. Oof… and is that Snow behind the counter? They're practically made for each other."

"L.O.L. I ship it," Heather responded. She scrolled up. Right there, with her indicated as the sender, was a picture she had taken of Thorne from behind his back while he ordered a drink at Dollar Star.

She muttered aloud to herself, quietly, "The truth is… I like Thorne… but everyone else thinks he's just another one of the weird students who's gonna be going to our school… and… if everyone else thinks that… I have to think so too, right…?" She sighed, sounding distraught. "Ugh… I'm sorry, Thorne… but more importantly, how did he possibly find out I posted that!? Isn't this a private group chat? What if… he's right about that other world thing!?" She gasped.


	7. 1 - The True Self

Sep. 3, Location Unverified; Late Night

"Sounds like you've had an exciting week." It was a very faintly familiar voice to Thorne, who rubbed his eyes from sleep.

"H-Hello…?" he questioned. The black fog around him subsided, leaving him in the same dark film studio as before. "Oh… this place again…"

"Welcome back," greeted Commander.

Hamlet appeared behind Thorne, although Thorne didn't feel like Commander was any sort of threat.

"Tell me," Thorne began, "what is this place?"

Commander thought first, then replied, "You could call this… Home Base, if you'd like, Agent. Although… I think your perception of this place may change over time."

Thorne maintained a matching gaze with the shadow that Commander's military-looking hat cast over his eyes.

"I see you've gotten acquainted with the… other dimension," Commander noted.

"PsykoNet? Yeah, I've been there a few times," Thorne responded. "And almost died there a couple times."

"It may seem like no big deal as of yet, but I predict you'll find yourself in there a lot more often," Commander explained. The static screen behind him cleared, showing an image. There was a lot of information on the screen now. In fact, too much for Thorne to read. However, he did recognize the image that was on half of the screen. Half of the image was Heather, and the other half was her Shadow, divided down the middle of her face.

"Huh?" Thorne sounded.

"Your first mission, Agent," Commander began. "Complete it, and I will compensate you with money."

"Money…? But… isn't this, like, a dream world?" Thorne questioned.

Commander explained, "The money you take from Shadows remains in your pocket when you return to reality. Therefore, why should my money not do the same? Your mission is to uncover Shadow Heather's true face. I would've chosen something a bit grander to kick off my career, if I were you, but you're already so involved."

"You're saying I have a choice?" Thorne asked.

"Well, no…" Commander paused. "I'm saying that you ought to have more trust in fate."

Thorne stood in silence. For some reason, he felt like he had somehow created a bond with Commander… he felt that his Persona, Hamlet, had become slightly stronger as a result…

Thorne had forged a special link with Commander: The Fool. Symbolizing new experiences, new possibilities, new outlooks, and the courage or foolishness necessary to face them, Commander's rough-edged nature would prove to hone Thorne's powers as a Persona users in ways he couldn't on his own… Ding!

An alert from his phone took him abruptly out of his lucid dream.

Sep. 4, Dollar Star, North Commercial Dr., Vancouver; Late Morning

"T-thanks for coming…" Heather sighed. "So…" She awkwardly traced the pattern in the wooden tabletop she was seated at. "School starts in three days… you ready?"

Thorne looked at her in silence.

"I-I know you must be a little upset," Heather admitted, looking down at her thighs.

"A little…" Thorne scoffed. "Tell me why that image of me is up in the gallery in your HQ."

"I… I still must admit, I don't… know what 'HQ' you're referring to…" Heater stuttered, upset at herself, "but… the group chat I'm always talking about… I… posted it in there…"

"And? Why would you talk about me like that behind my back?" Thorne asked.

"I…" Heather froze.

"Tell me," Thorne demanded, though he didn't get angry.

"I… I wanna fit in, okay?" Heather replied, putting a few fingers to her forehead. "People used to hate me… but… then I got popular again over the summer… well, debatably… you saw all those people on the bus…"

Thorne remained silent, but urged Heather t continue with a furrowing of his brow.

"Well… I started getting into trends, and… people started to look at me as someone worth acknowledging… I don't want people to hate me again…"

"And dragging people down is the only way you can get people to like you?" Thorne asked, a tinge of sarcasm making hi words sour.

"N-no… but it's one of the ways…" Heather's stomach growled. She pushed on her stomach it her arm to make it stop.

"Are you… hungry?" Thorne asked, a bit disarmed.

"I'd be lying to say no…" Heater admitted. "But… I don't really want t eat anything right now…"

"What?" asked Thorne. "Why not?"

"Because…" Heather looked around. She couldn't very well just admit it was for the sake of her image. "This… is a serious conversation… I, uh, don't want… to mess it up by eating…"

"Heather…" Thorne said, narrowing his eyes. "I'm not buying it. Tell me the truth."

"F-fine…" She rubbed her forehead again. "I don't want to eat a lot because it'll change the way people see me…"

Thorne was taken aback. "What?" He awkwardly chuckled. "You can' really believe that, can you?"

"Thorne…" Heather sighed a heavy, dense breath. "I've been the outcast for so long… I don't wanna fuck up being the princess…"

It was as if the entire photograph incident had never happened. Thorne insisted, "Heather, eat something."

"No…" she resisted.

"When's the last time you had a full meal?" asked Thorne.

"A… a full meal…?" she stuttered. "I-it's been a few days…"

"Heather…" Thorne's face became heavy with concern. "You really want people to like you, huh…?"

"Doesn't… everyone?" Heather asked.

"I guess…" He couldn't contest to that. He couldn't think of a single person who didn't at least want to be well-liked. "But Heather… this is unhealthy… both for you, and the people you're putting down…"

"I-I know, Thorne," Heather said. "But… it's working…"

"You can't keep this up…"

Heather sat in silence, staring down at the tabletop for longer than a minute.

"I… I know…" she admitted. "Thorne…?"

"What?" he asked.

"How do you get to the 'HQ' you keep talking about?"

Sep. 4, Heather Holland's Masquerade, PsykoNet; Approaching Noon

Heather tripped over herself and landed on her hands and knees on the marble floors of her own HQ. She gripped her head with one tense palm.

"God… what… just happened…?" she sputtered, attempting to get up before falling back down to her knees.

Thorne offered her his hand. She took it, and Thorne pulled her up to her feet, though she was still dizzy, and stumbled slightly on her feet.

"I promise it gets easier," he chuckled, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Wait…" Heather sounded, her eyes going wide as she gazed at Thorne. "W-when did you put on that outfit?"

"Oh!" Thorne himself looked slightly surprised. "Oh… it's kind of a long story… I got this outfit when I awakened to my Persona."

"Your… Persona…?" she asked.

"Again, long story," Thorne replied.

Heather herself did not have a costume of her own yet. Instead, she was wearing the same outfit she had worn a couple times throughout the week. Clearly, she liked it. She wore a gray top underneath a red sweater that was draped slightly down her shoulders. She also wore a short-ish skirt and thigh-high socks, with knee-high brown leather boots, complete with a sufficient number of buckles and zippers. The outfit helped to show off that she was actually incredibly thin. Thorne hadn't previously thought anything of it, but now that he knew of her eating habits…

The sound of metal footsteps echoed through the hallway that the two had entered through… Clank… clunk… clank… clunk… Fearing what it could possibly be, Heather dashed behind Thorne! She peaked out from behind his shoulder as Thorne put his hand down to his waist, where Heather didn't expected she'd see a holstered pistol.

"I thought that I'd sensed a familiar presence." It was a familiar voice… a one-tone yet somehow loosely masculine voice that didn't quite sound human. The faceless head of Android 07 peaked out from behind one of the side doors. "You have returned, Thorne."

"Oh… it's you…" Thorne sighed, letting his shoulders drop. Heather still hid behind him, though.

"You've brought another person," Seven noticed.

"This is Heather," Thorne explained.

"You've brought the Headquarters' owner into their own Headquarters?" Seven questioned.

"Y-yeah… she asked me to show her…" Thorne's face contorted. "Is that bad?"

"No, it is not inherently bad," Seven stated matter-of-factly. "However, she is in danger of coming into conflict with her Shadow."

"W-what?" Heather asked. "T-Thorne, who is this?"

"I am Android 07," Seven answered. "Thorne has given me the nickname of 'Seven', which I also respond to as per his request."

"Seven…?" Heather mumbled to herself.

"How may I help you?" Seven asked.

"W-what is this place?" Heather nervously questioned. " And… w-why is it dangerous for me to be here?"

"This is the PsykoNet, a perceptive-based representation of the online actions of people," Seven began to explain. "Specifically, this is the Headquarters belonging to you, Heather Holland. As for why it's dangerous for you to be here, your online identity, since it is in conflict with your real identity, has taken the form of a Shadow. Shadows are known to attempt to murder their real selves in order to end their co-existence and become the 'true self'."

"M-murder!?" Heather and Thorne both gasped.

"You didn't tell me about that!" Thorne shouted.

"It was not among the questions that you had asked me," Seven replied, unable to sense the emotional tension within Heather and Thorne.

Heather chuckled, her forehead becoming sweat. "Um… let's not run-in with my… Shadow… then…"

"Good plan," Thorne nodded. "If we do, I'll use my Persona and my gun to protect you."

"Thanks…" Heather nodded, her breathing starting to steady again.

"The guards which have been dispatched as per Shadow Heather's request will most likely still consider the real Heather to be an intruder," Seven explained. "They, however, will not be able to identify her as herself. It is most likely they'll see her as they had seen you, Thorne, prior to awakening to your Persona; someone wearing a mask, with no identifiable identity."

"That's… good, I guess," Thorne chuckled. "What should I show you first…?" he asked himself, though the implied subject was Heather. He thought for a moment. "What better place than the painting gallery. Stick close to me."

"Don't have to tell me twice," Heather nodded, and moved in close to Thorne.

As they approached the door leading into the central ballroom, they heard the slightly-distorted voice of Shadow Heather. "Only three days until my grand celebration!" she sung, evidently excited. "My past self- the one I tried to make myself- can finally be buried! The perfect self sculpted by society, hailed as a work of art, will finally be the self that people truly see!"

"I-is that… me?" Heather asked, whispering.

"Yeah," Thorne answered, also in a whisper.

"I…" she was at a loss for words. "She's totally lying…"

Thorne, Seven, and Heather waited for the sound of Shadow Heather's high heels to disappear. Thorne peered out from the door he was hiding behind. He saw that there were multiple guards patrolling the ballroom, on both the ground floor and the balcony.

"We can't risk putting Heather in danger…" Thorne insisted.

"I second that," Heather half-joked.

"We need to devise some way to get around all these guards…" Thorne put a finger to his chin in thought. "Seven, can you go out there and set the guards off our path?"

"I will obey all orders to me given by PsykoLink users, as is my purpose," Seven replied, as if reading a script. It was as if he didn't have the option to say no.

"Right…" Thorne said in a discernible tone. "Seven, distract the guards long enough for us to slip into the hallway leading to the gallery. We'll regroup with you after Heather has seen what I want her to see."

"I will do so," Seven agreed. He stepped out into the ballroom. Immediately, the guards all began to chase after him. He led them over to one corner of the ballroom, away from Thorne and Heather.

"Sh," Thorne sounded, putting a finger to his lips. He grabbed Heather's wrist and the two of them ran along the side of the ballroom wall until they made it to the hallway, which they ducked into.

"It's like you're an undercover spy," Heather said, panting from the mad dash.

"You've noticed too, huh?" Thorne chuckled, not quite so out-of-breath thanks to having the power of a Persona to keep him going. "Follow me."

They crept into the gallery, closing the door as quietly as they could behind them. The same few masked girls who had been there before were still there. One of them made a comment. "Oh my gosh! I wish my mask looked like her's."

Another one of the girls also commented, "Wait, is she with the unmasked guy? W-what's up with that…? Someone with as pretty a mask as her should be hanging with other beautiful girls… like us!"

"Wait…" Heather paused. "Those girls… their voices sound familiar… Sam? And Maggie?"

The two girls who had commented gasped. "How does she know who we are?!" one shouted, jumping back in surprise. "Did our masks slip!? Sammy, how's my mask looking!?"

"Your mask is on perfectly fine!" the masked PsykoNet version of Sam, as Heather knew her, shouted back. "How's mine?!"

"It's on just right," the first girl, supposedly 'Maggie', responded. "C-can she see through our masks!?"

"If someone could see through our masks… we'd be ruined!" 'Sam' shrieked. She then fainted. The other two girls, 'Maggie' and a third one, rushed to their knees to tend to her.

"W-what the hell?" Heather asked, looking unsurely at Thorne.

Thorne responded, "Just… ignore them… Look." Thorne pointed at the paintings on the walls. There was the one of the girl sitting under the tree with a book, which Thorne remembered was titled 'No-Life', and the one of that boy with a scar on his cheek, titled 'Aimless Delinquent'.

Heather's jaw dropped. "These… paintings… they're recreations of pictures I've posted in the group chat…"

Thorne gestured towards the one that had fallen to the floor.

"That photo… of you…" Heather looked at the plaque. 'Totally Fucking Insane' it read. "I… that's how you found it?"

Thorne nodded.

"These pictures are all things I've posted in my group chat…" Heather sighed.

"Oh, also, I watched a swimsuit disappear from thin air," Thorne chuckled.

"What…?" Heather asked, totally confused.

"It was black, and there was a hat that came with it," Thorne answered.

Somehow, Heather knew what he was talking about… it was still in the corner of her bedroom from when she'd thrown it out of frustration. "The one I deleted a photo of me wearing… 'cause nobody liked how it looked…"

"So that's why it disappeared," Thorne noted. "That puts me slightly at ease."

Heather went to look at her phone.

"Why is my phone stuck on this green screen?" she asked, frantically tapping at the screen.

"It's the PsykoLink app. It's your ticket out of the PsykoNet, so when you're in here you can't close it," Thorne explained. "Ooh, but it has a map of your HQ if you tap that tab there."

"Oh… okay…" Heather accepted that answer, despite how bizarre it was. After all, she was in an alternate dimension where her online posts had become real.

"Let's meet back up with Seven," Thorne suggested.

"Sure," Heather nodded.

The two of them returned to the central ballroom to check on how Seven was doing. The Android and Marcus Brutus, the robot's sci-fi-looking Persona, had cleared out a handful of Shadows already. However, he was backed into a corner, and it looked like he wasn't fairing great.

One of the Shadows who had manifested was one of the statues called The Ideal.

"Intruders shall not win against the righteous guards!" The Ideal shouted without moving her golden mouth. "Those who wish to disturb the glory of those higher than them must be cut down!"

Seven threw an arm in front of his face as a ball of The Ideal's black energy flew towards him. Based on the rough-looking state of the robot, it looked like Seven had already sustained a fair bit of damage!

Thorne jumped forward! "Hamlet! Attack!"

Hamlet materialized behind Thorne! He flourished his skull-tipped rapier for a moment, before dashing forward and slashing it right through The Ideal! The initial slash seemed to do no damage, but a trail of sharp ice followed the weapon's slice, which caused significantly more damage! The Ideal shattered, her pieces depixelating as they hit the ground!

Seven looked up just in time to see the shadow ball evaporate not a foot from his faceless face. Seven got up to his feet. A few sparks fizzed out of his joints, showing his condition was fairly bad. "Thorne…!" Seven called.

Thorne rushed into battle! "Heather!" he ordered. "Stand behind me!"

Heather timidly ran up and stood behind Thorne, cowering. "What's going on!?" she shrieked.

"I'll protect you," Thorne promised with a nod back at her. Heather looked up at Thorne's eyes and nodded back.

At this point, there were only two shadows left. One of them was Prince Charming, and the other Shadow was Poisoned Chalice. Both of them prepared to attack Thorne. While Heather stood timidly behind Thorne's back, Hamlet stood proudly behind his shoulder, his unique jacket flapping in non-existent wind!

"More intruders?" Prince Charming scoffed. "Let me at them! They will fall at my blade!"

Poisoned Chalice hissed, "Against our power, your weak friend and yourself are nothing!"

"We'll see about that…" Thorne growled.

"Th-Thorne… I w-will assist-ist y-you," Seven said, his voice stuttering as he sparked and his voice glitched.

"No," Thorne ordered, glaring firmly at Seven. "Repair yourself, or heal yourself, or something. You've done plenty."

Seven seemed concerned, but obeyed Thorne's firm orders without question.

Prince Charming had taken Thorne's moment of compassion to charge at him! Thorne turned to see Prince Charming already beginning a slash at him!

"Counter!" he shouted! It was just in time! Hamlet swung his rapier at Prince Charming, then kicked the prince back with a strong kick from the bottom of his armoured boot! Prince Charming flew back, his sword flying in a different direction!

The Poisoned Chalice also prepared an attack. The liquid contained within it bubbled, and a stream of poison that looked almost tentacle-like came flying at Thorne! Thorne wanted to jump out of the way, but if he did the attack would hit Heather, who didn't even have a Persona to defend herself with!

Thorne tightly shut his eyes, bracing for pain! He had to protect Heather! The tentacle of poisonous liquid hit him with a stinging slap! It hurt like hell, and the sting lasted, but it looked like Thorne had luckily avoided being inflicted with poison. He sighed, grateful that he wasn't poisoned, and shot his pistol at the Poisoned Chalice! The goblet fell to the ground, weakened, but it wasn't weakened enough to break when it hit the ground.

Prince Charming glanced at where his sword had landed… it was all the way across the ballroom… There was no way he could get to it in time without being attacked… He had a plan, even if it was unlikely to work.

Prince Charming unbuttoned the top button of his tunic… Thorne watched in confusion… Prince Charming continued to unbutton his tunic, as if attempting to seduce Thorne…

Thorne blinked. "What are you…?" he started to ask.

Prince Charming flexed his chest… it was a broad chest… there was a lot of muscle to be flexed… Prince Charming's strong arms also had a lot of muscle to be flexed, Thorne noticed. He was conflicted… but he couldn't look away… Prince Charming was conventionally attractive, even if he was a Shadow. He watched Prince Charming with metaphorical hearts in his eyes as Prince Charming walked confidently past him with swagger and muscle, not even noticing that the Shadow was walking towards his sword.

Seven noticed Thorne's odd behaviour. "Oh m-my…" the Android acknowledged, voice still glitching out from his damages. "S-Sir T-Thorne has b-been-n inflic-flicted with inf-infatuation…"

Heather shook Thorne's arm. "W-what are you doing?" she asked, trying to get Thorne's attention.

Thorne didn't even notice her attempts as he and his Persona both lusted over Prince Charming.

"P-Person-na," Seven said. Marcus Brutus materialized behind Seven. The Persona also looked like it was slightly glitching, its semi-ethereal energy sparking. However, it was still strong enough to lunge at Prince Charming!

Brutus dug his golden dagger deep into Prince Charming's back, and lifted him up into the air, the dagger poking through him like a skewer! Blue blood drizzled out from the edge of Prince Charming's mouth, staining his cheek.

"How… dare… you…" Prince Charming spat through navy-blue blood, before disappearing, along with his sword.

Thorne shook his head and cleared his throat. "S-sorry about that…" he apologized, attempting to remain cool although his red cheeks didn't help.

The Poisoned Chalice attempted to get back up, but Thorne wasn't having it! The ballroom once again transformed into a dark, echoing interrogation room. Thorne promptly summoned an abrasive rope and used it to tie the Poisoned Chalice down on top of the executive table in the middle of the room.

He seated himself in the comfy executive chair and crossed his legs underneath the table.

"W-what do you want?" the Poisoned Chalice nervously asked, attempting to struggle its way out of the rope ties. Having no moving limbs definitely didn't help with that.

"I could ask for a lot of things…" Thorne smirked, adjusting the cuffs of his tuxedo jacket. "For now, though, I'll ask for answers."

"I'm loyal to Her Grace…" the Poisoned Chalice resisted.

"Her Grace?" Thorne chuckled. "Is that what Shadow heather wants to be called?"

"I won't tell you a single thing," the Shadow insisted.

"I guess we can do this the hard way…" Thorne put the barrel of his pistol right into the golden snake's mouth attached to the chalice's stem. He gave the Shadow an unamused look.

"Go ahead, shoot me," the Shadow scoffed.

"Well… all right…" Thorne sighed. "I didn't want to have to do this…"

He pulled back the trigger and shut a bullet right into the snake's mouth! The bullet made bell-like sounds as it traveled through the body of the metal snake, until finally, the Shadow evaporated.

He looked smugly at the smoke coming from his gun before blowing it away. The interrogation room faded out and turned back into the ballroom.

Heather looked rather shocked. "Wow… you just flat-out killed that thing…"

"Oh, you saw that?" Thorne asked.

"Y-yeah…" Heather blinked.

"What is this commotion? I swear… is everyone trying to disrupt my ball now?" It was Shadow Heather's voice, echoing through the walls.

"Is-" Heather gasped, "is that my Shadow's voice? Is she coming!?"

"It would appear so," Seven noted. "You two should probably leave."

"L-leave?" Heather asked. "What about you? Will you be okay?"

"I promise I will recover swiftly once you two have returned to you world," Seven answered. His voice sounded warm…

"O-okay…" Heather nodded. "Good luck!"

Thorne and Heather both used their cell phones to teleport out from the ballroom and back to reality. It was just in time for Shadow Heather to step foot into the ballroom. The Shadow glared at Seven, now all alone and damaged.


	8. 1 - Yet Another Dimension

Sep. 5, Thorne Blackwood's Residence, Charles St., Vancouver; Early Morning

Beep-beep beep-beep! Thorne's alarm clock on his phone went off. He had gotten a rather good sleep the previous night, however he was still groggy as he woke up.

He rubbed his eyes and swiftly grabbed his phone to deactivate the alarm. He sighed. He was going to have to start waking up this early every day for the next bunch of months… was he ready to do that?

He walked over to the washroom to brush up and clean himself. He didn't have any plans today, but time was counting down until the start of school, so it was probably important that he do something.

"Thorne? Can you hear me?"

He jumped! There was an unknown voice coming from his phone, completely unprompted!

"W-who's there!?" he shouted.

"It is me, Android 07," replied the phone voice. "I am speaking to you through the PsykoLink app on your phone."

"You-" Thorne stuttered, trying to catch his breath from the mini panic attack. "You can do that?"

"Well… no, not technically, but I figured you might be put at ease to hear that I'm all right," Seven responded.

"It… it is nice to hear you're safe, at least," Thorne sighed. "Are you still damaged from yesterday?"

"No, I am not." Seven explained, "Since I am an Android, made of code, existing in PsykoNet, which is the world that embodies the Internet, I am capable of deactivating myself in Android form in order to recover in code form. I understand that that must be confusing to you, a human."

"Well… yeah, you're right. That's hella confusing," Thorne admitted. "But I think I get it. Is that what you're doing in my phone?"

"I am built to help PsykoLink users understand and navigate the PsykoNet," Seven said. "However, you've helped me in many ways yourself, Thorne. So, as thanks, I have decided to reside in your mobile device, so that I may be of use to you in the real world as well."

"That's sweet of you." Thorne's cheeks warmed at the thought.

"I promise that I will not encroach on your privacy," promised Seven.

"Thanks," Thorne chuckled as he brushed his hair. "Just… be careful not to draw attention to yourself, okay? Artificial Intelligence isn't quite as advanced as you on this side of PsykoLink."

"I promise," responded Seven.

"Great. I'll talk to you in a bit. Stay safe." Thorne put his phone into his pocket and went out into the living room. Thorne felt that he'd forged a bond with Seven. The kind robot was willing to go to such a length for him. Therefore, how could he not say that they had a special bond together?

Thorne had forged a special link with Seven: The Star. Symbolizing faith, trust, connection, and purpose, Seven's robotic nature would prove to widen Thorne's view of the world in ways he could never expect.

Sep. 5, Thorne Blackwood's Residence, Charles St., Vancouver; Early Morning

"You're up before nine for once," Thorne's grandfather commented.

Thorne rolled his eyes and went to the fridge to get a glass of milk.

"You ready for school tomorrow?" his grandfather asked, trying to sound approachable.

"Tomorrow is Sunday, gramps."

"No it's not, tomorrow's Monday," his grandfather insisted.

Thorne rolled his eyes yet again and showed his phone screen to his grandfather. The date was shown on the lock screen. It most definitely said 'Saturday, Sept. 5.'

"Oh… so you're right!" his grandfather chuckled. "Of course, you would have that phone on you so early in the morning, wouldn't you?"

Thorne sighed. He mumbled to himself once he got back to the kitchen, "Can I ever get a break?"

Seven inquired, "Do you wish to get away from this situation?"

"To be honest… yeah… my grandfather is obnoxious…" Thorne groaned.

"I may have a suitable suggestion to draw you away from this uncomfortable situation," Seven offered.

"Tell me."

"You and I could return to PsykoNet," suggested Seven.

"Without Heather?"

"Oh, I didn't mean go to her Headquarters," explained Seven.

"Huh?" Thorne asked. "Then what did you mean?"

"There is an area of PsykoNet that is not relegated to individual Headquarters," Seven explained. "Given that PsykoNet itself embodies the entire Internet, there is a portion of it that embodies the areas of the Internet that have not taken form into H.Q.'s. This area of PsykoNet is referred to as the PsykoWeb."

"PsykoWeb?" asked Thorne.

"It functions mostly the same. The only difference is that it is much larger in scale than a singular Headquarters. Although, I feel that may be a given. Oh, and it doesn't have individual Boss Shadows that lead it. However, there still are Shadows, so we'll need to be careful if we go."

"Hm…" Thorne contemplated. "Well, I suppose I have nothing better to do today. Let's do it."

"I will await your signal," Seven agreed.

"Hey gramps," Thorne shouted. "I'm going out again! I'm- uh- gonna do some school shopping and make sure I'm not missing anything!"

"Don't get lost again," his grandfather shouted back.

Thorne exited his house and into the street. "All right, let's do it," Thorne nodded.

"Transporting to PsykoWeb," Seven said as the world around Thorne transformed around him. He was really rather used to it by now. Thorne didn't, however, expect everything to look so… similar to reality.

Sep. 5, PsykoWeb, Exact Location Unverified; Mid-Morning

"Hey, it looks remarkably like Charles Street," Thorne commented. "Only… way bluer."

Seven walked up to Thorne. "PsykoWeb reflects reality much more directly than individual H.Q.'s do," he explained. "This is because PsykoWeb is influenced by all Internet users, as opposed to H.Q.'s which are influenced by individual people."

"Interesting…" Thorne nodded, putting a finger to his chin. He adjusted the bowtie around his neck. "It's kinda cool, actually. I feel like a cyberpunk protagonist."

"You look like a spy movie protagonist," Seven commented.

"I get it," Thorne said sarcastically. "I'm a spy. Does that make you my robot companion?"

"If you would like that to be the case, I would be honoured," Seven responded.

"I would like that, actually," Thorne smiled.

"Me too," Seven said in a warm tone unlike he had ever used before.

Seven had officially joined Thorne's team as a member of the party.

"So, where do we go from here?" Thorne asked.

"I must admit, PsykoWeb is largely uncharted territory, even for me," Seven admitted. "We could simply investigate, just as we've been doing within Heather's Masquerade Ball."

"I'm down," Thorne nodded. He began walking down the street. Everything looked relatively close to how it id in reality, only more abstract-art-looking, with houses being boxier and plenty of surface having moving patterns on them whereas it would be impossible in reality. "This place actually looks pretty cool," Thorne commented.

Seven followed close behind. "I sense a Shadow nearby," Seven alerted.

Thorne squared his shoulders and reached down for his pistol. Seven shifted his hand into a cannon, as well. Indeed, an undisguised Shadow jumped out from the street corner, directly at Thorne!

"Whoa!" Thorne shouted! He managed to punch the Shadow out of the way, and shot at it while it was winded! It was a strange dog creature, with a sharp black face and an unsettlingly long, white body. "O-only one, right, Seven?"

"I only sensed one Shadow, yes," Seven nodded.

The Shadow got to its feet, and prepared to attack! It opened its mouth wide, and a flame sparked to life inside its sharp-toothed jaws! It launched the flame at Seven, who was hit directly! Seven was knocked down by the surprising force of the flame!

Thorne jumped into action, and shot another bullet at the Shadow! He managed to hit the Shadow square in its face with the bullet, which caused it to flinch long enough for Seven to also deliver an attack! Seven charged up a Nuclear blast inside his arm-cannon, and blasted it at the Shadow! The Shadow was once again knocked off its feet!

This time, Seven walked forward. The entirety of the vast-spanning PsykoWeb was reduced to an interrogation room, with Seven, Thorne, the canine Shadow, and the desk and the light being the only things visible.

"I am required to question you as part of my team's ongoing investigation into PsykoWeb," Seven explain in his mechanical, flat tone.

"Question me…?" the weakened Shadow asked, timid.

"You may start by telling me your name," Seven offered.

The Shadow confessed, "My name? I-it's Inugami…"

"Inugami. Is this correct?"

"Y-yeah," the Shadow stuttered.

"Inugami, please come closer. My intention is not to harm you."

Inugami limped closer to the desk, timidly trusting Seven. "I-I'm sorry… that I hurt you… p-please don't hurt me…"

Thorne was standing in the corner, leaning up against one of the walls of the interrogation room. "What should I ask the Shadow, Sir Thorne?"

"Ask it where in PsykoWeb we are," Thorne instructed.

"Where precisely in PsykoWeb is this area?" Seven asked.

"I-I can't give you all the specifics… but th-this general area… we Shadows call it the Yomotsu Sector."

"That is indeed useful information," Seven nodded. "Thank you."

"W-welcome… can I go now…?" Inugami stuttered.

Seven looked back to Thorne for further instruction.

"Ask 'im if there's anything of note 'round here," Thorne instructed.

"Is there anything of note within the Yomotsu Sector, as you call it?" Seven asked.

"Y-you're getting rather pushy… I… don't know…?" Inugami answered.

"That sounds like a lie to me," Thorne chuckled.

"You have the opportunity to answer honestly, and we will let you go," Seven explained.

"I-I'm sworn to secrecy!" Inugami yipped, attempting to bite at Seven's face! Seven smacked him out of the way!

Seven got up from his seated position and moved the table aside. He charged up his Nuclear blast and pointed it at Inugami, who had been knocked to the ground once again. "You have one more opportunity to answer honestly," Seven spoke, still using the same robotic tone. "Otherwise, my programming dictates that I ought to kill you anyway."

"I'd rather die than be a snitch!" Inugami barked.

"If that is the case, you have made your mistake," Seven said, before firing the Nuclear blast. Inugami depixelated on impact. "Process successfully executed," Seven said with a beep.

The world around them returned to the blue city streets of PsykoWeb. "Oh!" Thorne excitedly noted. "He dropped some money!" Thorne went over and picked up the rather impressive amount of C.A.D. that the Shadow had dropped upon depixelating.

"I hope that my process of interrogation was satisfactory, Sir Thorne," Seven said.

"It went as well as it could have," Thorne sighed. "That wasn't a very cooperative Shadow, unfortunately." He put a finger to his chin. "Yomotsu Sector… so that's what the Shadows are calling this place? Yomotsu… Yomotsu… I feel like I've heard that word before…"

"'Yomotsu' is a Japanese word," Seven explained. "It is not used in common language, however it is a root word widely accepted to be derived from the word 'Yomi' which loosely translates to 'underworld'. It could be referring to a few things which 'Yomotsu' is a part of, such as 'Yomo-tsu-Okami', or 'Yomotsu Hirasaka'."

"Didn't think I was gonna have a Japanese lesson today," Thorne joked. "I wonder why the Shadows refer to this place as an underworld… We should continue to investigate."

"Agreed," Seven nodded. The two of them proceeded through the bizarre recreation of Vancouver.

After cautiously walking through the streets of the 'Yomotsu Sector' for a handful of minutes, Seven noticed something glowing in one of the street corners. "What's that?" he asked.

Thorne noticed as well. He walked over to it. There was a small box floating in mid-air slightly above the ground. There was a lock on the box, but it was a simple slide lock, like on a cell phone, and after Thorne swiped his finger across it, the box opened, revealing a shiny item inside.

"What's this thing?" Thorne asked. It was a jagged but incredibly vibrant, lustrous stone with a mesmerizing pattern.

"I identify that as a Life Stone," Seven acknowledged. "That is an item capable of fully healing anyone."

"What? Like, of anything?" Thorne gasped.

"Well, no," Seven explained. "It can, however, heal you of damage received in PsykoNet."

"That's still helpful," Thorne nodded. He put the Life Stone in one of his pockets. "I better hold onto this."

Suddenly, a Shadow struck, catching Thorne off guard! A sword was slashed through Thorne's chest! It didn't leave lasting damage, but it certainly hurt. "Aw fuck!" Thorne cussed. "I can't believe you snuck up on me like that!"

"Identify yourself," Seven demanded, pointing a charged arm cannon at the Shadow, Brutus having appeared behind him.

"I am Excalibur," said the Shadow, who was nothing but a sword and a translucent hand made of shadows. "However, hearing that won't do you too well, for your ears shall soon ring with agony!"

"You're one to talk," Thorne snarked. "Considering you don't even have ears."

"I feel excluded…" Seven sighed, his metal shoulders dropping.

"Hamlet!" Thorne called forth his Persona, whose very presence made the air colder.

Excalibur's hand charged a Dark attack, aiming it at Thorne! It released the attack!

Hamlet also released an attack, sending a wisping rush of frozen wind in the direction of the Shadow! Both the Ice and Dark attacks collided, canceling each other!

Seven jumped in, and launched a ball of Nuclear energy at the Excalibur Shadow, whose attention was affixed on the attack that it had just executed! In its unsuspectingness, it was struck clear with the Nuclear ball! Excalibur clattered to the ground.

The interrogation room's walls erected once again. This time, Thorne took a seat in the comfortable chair. "Mm, this is a comfy chair," Thorne smugly noted. "It's too bad you're down there on the ground, Excalibur."

"Do whatever you want, I-I won't give you anything," Excalibur resisted.

"Thorne," Android 07 called. "The Shadows here… they work differently than the Shadows in the H.Q.'s that I've seen. Would you like me to explain?"

Thorne pressed his dress shoe against Excalibur's blade, trapping it against the ground. "Do explain?"

"The Shadows in PsykoWeb… they seem different from the ones in the Headquarters. It seems that the way that they've formed is different. The Shadows in the Headquarters are mere tools to be used by the Boss Shadows to protect their identities. However, the Shadows that appear in PsykoWeb… it appears that they are identities that have no one to attach themselves to… I know that's a very abstract description, but do you understand?"

"So they're like… masks without a face to wear them?" Thorne asked.

"If that helps you understand, then yes," Seven nodded.

"I think I get it…" Thorne nodded. "In that case… Excalibur, I don't want anything from you. I want you."

"You… what?" the Shadow asked, struggling under Thorne's foot.

"I want to bind you to me," Thorne explained.

"I'd never…" Excalibur snarled.

Suddenly, a blank card appeared before Thorne. It looked like the card he had seen before him during his first trip to Commander's Home Base. It was the card he'd seen when Hamlet had spoken to him prior to being awakened.

He knew exactly what to do. Thorne put his focus on the card and the Shadow, and before he knew it Excalibur and the card had become one, with Excalibur's image imposed on the card. He put the card into his pocket. "That went well," he chuckled. "So, what you're saying is, I can do… that, with Shadows that appear in PsykoWeb?"

"Yes," Seven confirmed.

"But not the ones in people's Headquarters?"

"Yes," Seven confirmed again.

"I see… I wonder what I'm supposed to do with it now…?" Thorne thought. "Let's continue pressing onward."


	9. 1 - Investigating the Yomotsu Sector

Sep. 5, Heather Holland's Residence, King Junior Ave., Vancouver; Approaching Noon

Heather sat before her computer. There was an untouched plate of sandwiches on her desk, which her mother had carefully made for her, right down to cutting off the crust. She had the same app open on her computer as she did on her phone. It was a mix between a private messaging app and a social media platform.

"Man, he really is insane, isn't he? And he's coming to school with us in only two days?" a girl named Maggie texted to the group chat.

"Haha!" another girl, this one named Samantha, wrote. "T.B.H. I'm kind of worried. What if a crazy person like that is in one of my classes?"

"It does seem like there's a lot of… well, crazy people in our class this year," said a new person. This one's name, if her username was correct, was Leone D'Arc. "Like, there's Snow, and Luke, and now this Thorne kid? Like, we're a high-ranking public school, not an insane asylum."

"Guys…" Heather texted. "Maybe you're being a little harsh?"

"What are you on about?" Maggie asked, followed by a laughing face sticker to ensure she wasn't coming off to hard on her friend. "Ooh, are you crushing on this Thorne kid? But he's CRAZY!"

"I am NOT!" Heather texted, capitalizing the 'not'.

"L.O.L. she totally is," Samantha responded almost immediately.

"Heather, you should stop hanging out with him. He's probably going to get you into some sort of trouble," suggested the Leone girl.

Sam replied, "I agree. He seems like a danger to himself and others. Like, really? Other dimensions?"

Heather's fingers hovered over her keyboard. She knew she couldn't say he was actually right… the girls would think she was crazy too. Not to mention, it could be dangerous if that information became widespread. She looked down at her phone… There, right on her screen, was the app that proved that that other dimension really did exist… She stared down at her phone screen, hyper-focused on the green app thumbnail.

Sep. 5, Yomotsu Sector, PsykoWeb; Noon

"Whoa…" Thorne gasped, staring up at the sky. Now that there weren't as many buildings in the way, Thorne could see in the direction of downtown. And boy, was there a sight to see. Towering over everything else in the city, there was a ginormous arch… It looked like the poles holding up the arch were made of raw wood, while the top of the arch was a wooden cylinder wrapped in an enormous twine of rope, with tassels hanging down from it. Thorne wasn't quite sure from his vantage point, but it looked like it was at an angle,as if on a hill… or perhaps like one of the poles had sunken into the ground.

"Based on a quick search through internet databases, that appears to be a PsykoNet-influenced recreation of the Yomotsu Hirasaka arch in Shimane, Japan," explained Seven.

"It's absolutely massive!" Thorne shouted.

"Indeed… the Yomotsu Hirasaka arch in real-world Japan is much smaller," confirmed Seven.

"What's the deal with it, Seven?"

"Yomotsu Hirasaka is believed to be the entrance to the underworld in Japanese mythology," Seven explained. "It is commonly referenced in modern media, particularly that which is inspired by anime."

"Hm…" Thorne put a finger up to his chin as he scrutinized what he could of the district-towering recreation. "Why's it here, then?"

"Unfortunately, information on PsykoWeb is much less easy to attain than that on Headquarters," Seven sighed. "PsykoWeb is largely unexplored by the staff who work on PsykoLink."

"Let's check it out for ourselves, then," Thorne nodded, then began walking onward. Seven followed at a consistent pace.

Several minutes passed. Thorne guessed it had probably been about an hour. "It's not getting any closer…" he panted.

"It is, I promise," Seven said. "However, you seem to underestimate the size of Vancouver."

"Sorry," Thorne panted, waving his hand lazily in front of him. "I'm new here. Are we really going to have to walk all this way every time we want to come here…? What if we go back to the real world and take a bus?"

"I'm not sure that would work…" Seven said in a worried tone. "I think it was pure luck that the portal took us so close to the equivalent of where we entered from. Unfortunately, we probably would have to walk the entire way to get back here."

"I… I need to sit down…" Thorne groaned, walking towards a PsykoNet-ified cafe.

"The interior of that cafe looks suspicious…" Seven noted.

Thorne took a second look at it. "You know, you're kinda right. It's all different colours from the blue scheme out here. Should we go in and check it out?"

"I could recommend it," Seven nodded. He and Thorne opened the door to the cafe. There were indeed bright colours inside.

"What's this?" Thorne asked. There was a small line of bright light on the wall. Thorne touched it with his hand.

Suddenly, the line of light opened up into a bizarre-looking portal!

"Whoa!" Thorne gasped, stumbling back. "What is that?"

"My sensors tell me that that is a portal," Seven explained. "They function somewhat similar to internet links."

"Oh, so if we go through it we'll end up somewhere else?" Thorne inquired.

"Indeed," Seven nodded.

"Well then let's try it!" Thorne said with conviction and jumped head-first into the PsykoWeb portal.

He came out the other side and regain his balance with a dramatic roll. The location looked familiar. In fact, he could see his house exactly. Or, at least, the PsykoNet-influenced version of it.

"Huh… we're back where we started," Thorne noted.

"It would appear so," Seven confirmed. "It appears we can use these portals to significantly shorten the time it takes to progress through PsykoWeb, only after we unlock them."

"I think it's about time I return to reality for now," Thorne admitted, rubbing the back of his hair.

"That is fair. Returning to reality…" Seven droned.

Sep. 5, Location Unverified; Time Unverified

A man appeared dark against the light of a myriad of holographic screens, facing away from the door where his female assistant waited, who was instead darkened by the light from the hallway.

"With the school year starting soon, I imagine many more Headquarters will soon take form," the darkened man said in a deep, intimidating voice.

"I predict the same," the woman replied. "Teenagers in a school setting can't help but manipulate their image to get others to like them."

"It's the perfect opportunity to test our equipment, don't you think?" The man turned around in his chair, revealing a large, black visor that completely covered his eyes. It looked exactly like a VR Headset.

"I think you're precisely right, Boss!" the woman chuckled. "And nobody suspects any of this work is even happening under their noses." The woman stepped out of the blinding light of the hallway, to reveal she too was wearing a VR Headset-thing.

"How is the research into PsykoWeb going?" Boss asked.

"It's… not really going all too well…" sighed the woman. "Shadows in PsykoWeb are of a different variety than we've seen before… We can't neutralize them using our current technology."

"That is indeed a problem…" Boss sighed, balling his fist in frustration. "Well then, get to it designing technology that can be used to neutralize them."

"It's not completely without hope, sir," the woman said, turning up a slight smile. "One of our PsykoWeb cameras caught a boy using a Persona to neutralize Shadows. The people watching the cameras even reported that they saw the boy turn one of the Shadows into a mere playing card!"

"A boy… using a Persona!?" Boss half-shouted, slamming his fist on the arm of his chair. "How did some random boy even get a hold of PsykoLink!?"

"I'm sorry, sir," the woman apologized, "but I don't have enough information on him to tell you that. However, a robot was spotted with him…"

"An Android, no doubt! Which one!?" Boss yelled, unabashedly angry now.

"Model 07, sir," the woman answered.

"That traitor… I thought we trashed him!?" Boss put a finger to his temple.

"I'm not really sure what to tell you, sir," sighed the woman. "We did trash him… I'm not sure how he was able to survive it… but we'll do our best to take care of the issue for you."

Sep. 5, Charles St., Vancouver; Mid-Afternoon

Thorne was comfortably back in his airy summer outfit, and also back on the familiar street in front of his home. However, he wasn't quite ready to go back inside yet… He checked his phone. There was a text from Heather! "Want me to show you to the sushi place I talked about?"

"Are you actually going to eat something?" Thorne texted back..

"I sent that an hour ago, Thorne," Heather responded. "Have you been dimension-hopping again?"

"N-no!" Thorne texted, trying to make it appear sarcastic even if his only tone was text.

"Well, at least you're safe," Heather replied. "I'm still down for sushi. I still haven't eaten."

"Sure, I don't wanna go home yet," Thorne replied. "What street?"

"It's kinda close to the school," Heather explained. "The street name is McMillis Ave."

"Seven," Thorne said aloud. "Take me to McMillis Ave."

"Would you like to go by foot, public transit, or car?" Seven asked.

"Public transit," Thorne replied.

"Take a right at the end of Charles St., then follow Skirting Lane to the nearest bus stop, and take it to the skytrain," Seven explained.

Sep. 5, Amaya Sushi, McMillis Ave., Vancouver; Late Afternoon

"You made it!" Heather waved.

"Hey!" Thorne waved, holding up his phone.

"Hello, Heather," his phone greeted.

"D-Did your phone just greet me?" Heather asked, slightly shocked.

"Oh, no, it's Seven," Thorne laughed. "He's staying in my phone while I'm in our world."

"O-oh…" Heather sounded. "Anyway, this is it, Amaya Sushi!"

"Cool!" Thorne acknowledged. "Shall we go inside?"

"You first," Heather offered.

"Oh, well, don't mind if I do," Thorne said as he entered.

The interior was rather calming and zen. There was a mini-waterfall right by the entrance. It was everything that he dreamed of in a sushi restaurant.

"Hi there," greeted the waitress. "Is everyone here? May I seat you?"

Thorne looked at the waitress. She was all too familiar. "Wait… Uh… Snow, was it?"

"Oh, I hardly recognized you," replied Snow. "Uh… what did you say your name was?"

"It's Thorne," he smiled.

Snow's smile slightly faded when she acknowledged Heather. "And you're with Heather, as always."

Thorne didn't seem to notice her unimpressed tone. "Yeah. We're friends. Oh, uh, Snow, you go to Goldhelm Secondary School, right?"

"Unfortunately," Snow joked. "Why?"

"That's where I'm going, too," Thorne admitted. "Maybe we'll get some classes together."

"Hey, wait, weren't you working at the Dollar Star, like, in the other half of town?" Heather asked.

"Yep, I was," Snow nodded. "However, it was just a summer job. School is starting now, so I'm working with my mother in her sushi restaurant."

"I see," Heather nodded. "Since it's closer to the school?"

"It is only a short walk from the school," Snow admitted, "but since my mom runs the place it also gives me the right to do homework instead of being constantly on the job."

"She really wants you working with her, huh?" Heather asked.

"It's… kind of a long story, but basically, yeah," Snow nodded. "May I show you to your seats, guys?"

"Please!" Thorne chimed in.

"Right this way."


	10. 1 - The First Day of School - Part 1

Sep. 5, Ayaka Sushi, McMillis Ave., Vancouver; Late Afternoon

"So, can I get you guys anything to drink?" Snow asked, her pen and paper ready to write down the orders.

"I'll get a green tea," Heather ordered. She turned to Thorne. "You?"

"I'll get a green tea, too, please," Thorne smiled. He felt like he and Snow formed some kind of connection… he felt strangely as though Snow would be important to his future.

Thorne had forged a special link with Snow: The Moon. Symbolizing intuition, illusion, fear, and the subconscious thought process, Snow's mysterious nature would prove to be a great asset both for him, and against him.

After receiving their throat-warming green tea, and later their delicious sushi, Heather and Thorne discussed at length their plans for the upcoming school year.

Sep. 7, Thorne Blackwood's Residence, Charles St.; Before School

The day had finally come… Thorne's first day of school. He was up way earlier than he felt necessary, but he couldn't get back to sleep after he'd already woken up. He was stressed, for some reason… Well, there was a reason. He didn't know practically anybody he was going to school with. He pulled up his phone and sent a message to Heather, "Hey, you wanna meet up somewhere when we get to school?"

Heather didn't respond. She usually responded right away. But Thorne assumed she was just getting ready for school. After his excursion into PsykoWeb on the 5th, Thorne had spent the 6th simply relaxing in preparation for the school year… and today was the big day. The First Day ™.

Thorne had selected an outfit specifically for the occasion. It wasn't all too formal, but there was a dress shirt involved. This one was blue, Thorne's second-favourite colour!

He spent a very long time in front of the mirror getting his hair exactly right, and making sure he would leave a good impression on the people he met today. After all, he didn't know almost _anyone_, and he'd be spending the entire rest of the year with them. The smoother his first impressions went, the better all around for him.

Thorne nearly forgot that today was the day of Shadow Heather's Masquerade. Seven made sure to remind him, though. "Remember, today is Day One of heather's Masquerade in her H.Q. We should investigate later."

"I'd like to… but school is starting now, Seven, and it has to be my first priority," Thorne responded. "How do I look?"

"You look as refined as you do in your Psykonet outfit," Seven said with a chuckle.

"I don't think I've heard you laugh before," commented Thorne.

"I don't think I have either," noted Seven. "If you leave now, you should be at the nearest bus stop approximately seven minutes before it arrives."

"Thanks for the tip," Thorne thanked. He grabbed his backpack, with all this school supplies inside, and put in his earbuds, and listened to his favourite songs on his way to school.

Sep. 7, Goldhelm Secondary School, Vancouver; Shortly Before School

Every hallway of the school was packed. People were excitedly greeting each other, chatting, and looking around to find their classrooms. Thorne took a deep sigh and proceeded inside. Immediately he was bombarded by a cacophony of different conversations, loud enough to sound like everyone was shouting.

His first stop was the office, to get his timetable. There was a lineup in front of the office, so Thorne patiently waited, distracting himself from the loud voices by focusing on his music. Someone who looked like a teacher nearly bumped into him, but he moved out of the way just in time.

"Oh my goodness!" said the man, who was on the younger side of mid-adulthood. "I'm so sorry, I hardly saw you there. My name's Mr. Amber, but most people call me by my first name anyway, which is Mike."

Thorne nodded. "Uh, okay."

"I'm a student counsellor," explained Mr. 'Mike' Amber. "If you don't mind, I have to get into the office."

Thorne shuffled to the side, and Mr. Amber politely passed him.

Thorne was beginning to grow impatient by the time he actually got up to the office desk. "Hello. Um, the name's Thorne Blackwood."

"Hm…" hummed the secretary as she looked through the absolutely massive stack of timetables. "Ah, here we are," she said with a smile as she handed Thorne the small stack of papers that had his name on them. "If you have any schedule conflicts, please return to the office immediately."

"Will do, thanks." Thorne left the office and looked at his timetable. It was pretty much as he expected. There were five classes per semester, and a semester lasted approximately just over four months.

Thorne's first block was a non-descript Philosophy class. His second block was the Social Psychology class he remembered signing up for. His third block was a French class. Fourth, a Mathematics class, which Thorne remembered he had Heather in his class for. And the last block of the day was English, which Heather was also in with Thorne. Now, the only issue was finding his classrooms.

He wandered around a few of the hallways. Given that the school had two floors and a separate mezzanine, it was a little intimidating to find all of his classrooms. However, even if he didn't come across any of his classrooms, he did spot Heather. She was with a group of girls, each of which seemed to wear a different colour. Heather was wearing a different outfit than the one Thorne usually saw her in. She was wearing a dark-gray jacket and jeans… it seemed so muted compared to her usual out-there, expressive style.

"Hey, Heather!" he called, waving.

Heather turned her head in acknowledgement. She saw Thorne, and quickly turned her head away. However, Thorne had already seen her acknowledge him. His shoulders lowered. "Is she ignoring me?" he mumbled to himself. "What for…?"

He was swept away by a current of students. While he was navigating the tight maze of bodies, he thought he heard someone say something along the lines of "Hey, did you hear about this Psykonet thing?" Thorne wanted to listen in and see where the conversation was going, but the movement of the students forced him to move away from the conversation.

"Did that boy say something about PsykoNet?" Seven asked after Thorne had managed to find a way out of the ambush of students.

"I thought I heard that, too…" Thorne said, a slight tone of worry weighing on his words.

Eventually, he found the location of his first classroom, and with some time to spare.

He entered, and looked around.

Sep. 7, Room 208 (Mr. Manning's Room), Goldhelm Secondary School, Vancouver; Class Time

Thorne had arrived early, even beating out the teacher. There were already a lot of occupied seats, though. The desks were set up in pairs, but at least one desk in every pair was already occupied. So, Thorne had to pick whoever looked the most inviting… There was a boy in the back row, with soft yet strong features, and short, waving brown hair styled into a wavy quiff. Thorne picked him to be his desk neighbour.

"Hello," Thorne greeted.

"Ah, bonjour," replied the boy. "How are you today?"

"I'm good," smiled Thorne. "What's your name?"

"My name is Marc," the boy responded. "Et toi?"

"Name's Thorne. A-are you French, by any chance?"

"I'm an exchange student, actually," explained Marc. "I've always admired Canada, though. It certainly helps that Canadian packaging includes francais," he chuckled.

"I see. Fascinating. I hope we get along."

"So, why have you taken this class?" asked Marc.

"Me? Er, well, no reason. It just looked like an easy credit."

Marc nodded. "I can understand why. I, however, signed up for this class in hopes of enlightening myself as to what is… how you say… the truth."

"The truth?" Thorne asked. "Could you explain?"

"Well… I come from a religious family," Marc explained, "but I've never felt that their beliefs are the truth. However, I also believe there must be some things that can't be proven simply with science and logic. I am waiting to find the… or at least, my truth. I hoped that taking this class will help me get closer to that."

"Wow…" sounded Thorne, his jaw half-hung open. "That's… deep," he said genuinely, before chuckling. "Did you get that out of a poem?"

"I do not understand…" Marc said, tilting his head.

"Oh, it's nothing," Thorne said, brushing off his poor joke. "That's as good a reason as any to take a class… You know… maybe I'm also looking for the truth… I just never thought of it…"

"In that case, I hope that you are able to find your truth," Marc said with a smile. Thorne felt like he had formed a relationship with Marc already.

Indeed, Thorne had forged a special link with Marc: The Wheel of Fortune. Symbolizing cycles, fate, and having trust in nature's orders, Marc's philosophical nature would prove to bring Thorne to experience the world around him with renewed eyes.

The classroom door opened again. This time, a tall adult man walked through it. He began talking immediately. "Hello, class," he said. "I am Mr. Manning, and I'll be your Philosophy instructor this term."

Class went… fine… but Thorne felt that he would develop a prosperous relationship with the intriguing Marc before long.

Sep. 7, Room 102 (Miss Berot's Room), Goldhelm Secondary School, Vancouver; Class Time

The room of Thorne's second class was considerably more full. He recognized one person in the room, though. Not because he knew the person, but because he'd seen their face. Their cheek had a scar on it, and they had short, messy brunette hair. He remembered the face from Shadow Heather's painting gallery. He wasn't sure if he had ever heard the boy's name, though… Every other seat was full, except the one next to the scar-faced boy.

The people seated around the boy seemed tense, as if… afraid of him. Thorne gulped, slightly worried as to why people would be so visibly fearful of the boy. However, he had no choice but to take the seat next to him. He sat down quietly, and put his bag on the floor under his desk. "Hey," Thorne smiled, looking at the boy next to him. "My name's Thorne."

The boy glared at him with intense, dark eyes.

Thorne turned back to facing the front of the room, where a small-statured adult woman stood behind a tall desk. He occasionally glanced over at the boy next to him… something seemed off…

"Hello, students," the teacher, who was conventionally attractive by modern standards, began. "I'm going to be your Social Psychology teacher this term. My name is Miss Berot. I'd like to start off our time together by having you all introduce yourselves, too, now."

The students in front of Thorne said their names, and a couple of rows of desks later, it was Thorne's turn. "My name's Thorne Blackwood," he introduced.

The boy next to him spoke next. He said in a growling voice, "Luke Daniels."

Luke... Thorne would remember that name.


	11. 1 - The First Day of School - Part 2

Sep. 7, Room 102 (Ms. Berot's Room), Goldhelm Secondary School, Vancouver; Class Time

Thorne inconspicuously eavesdropped on the gossip he heard behind him. "Did you hear about that Psykonet rumour?" a student asked.

"Oh, yeah, it spread like wildfire, and it's only the first day of school," responded the other student.

Thorne couldn't be mishearing it. They definitely said something about PsykoNet.

"What do you think it is?" asked the first student.

The second student whispered back, "To be honest, it's probably just some indie game thing."

"I mean, I know that," the first student scoffed. "But what do you think Psykonet is _supposed_ to be?"

"Oh, that… hm…" The second student paused to think. "I mean, I heard it was some other dimension that's inside your phone."

Thorne had to strongly resist not correcting them. How did information about the PsykoNet even get out there?

Sep. 7, Room 105 (Mrs. Lydia's Room), Goldhelm Secondary School, Vancouver; Class Time

Thorne's next classroom, which he had French in, was on the other side of the hall from his Social Psychology class. So, he arrived quite early. Someone he did not expect to see was sitting near the back of the room. He immediately sat down next to the familiar face.

"Heather," he smiled. "I didn't expect to see you here."

"Yeah, well, me neither," Heather sighed. "My Literature class was over capacity, so I got moved to a French class this term…"

"You sound upset… is it that bad?" Thorne asked, taking out his notebook. He noticed Heather's notebook had a cute sticker of a stylized black cat on it. It was cute. It suited her.

"Well, not really…" she sighed. "I got a priority position in next term's Literature class. But…" Heather's eyes darted around the room. "Don't bring anything up with me, unless it's a question about French."

"Huh? I'm confused… you don't want me talking with you?" Thorne asked.

"…No… Well, you of all people should know it's not black and white," Heather sighed.

"What's up? Didn't our talk, and taking you into PsykoNet help you see anything?"

"Shh!" heather hissed. "Don't talk about that. Just… don't talk at all. Just focus on the class… Like I said, I have a reputation now."

"And you gave me a reputation," Thorne harrumphed. "You know, there were students gossiping about me in the class I had before this."

"W-what…?" Heather half-gasped. "I'm… so sorry… I didn't think… that it would leak out from my private group."

"So you expected to use those girls to make you more popular, and you didn't think there would be any consequences to using other students as stepping stones? Heather, I can't believe you…" Thorne and Heather sat in silence during the remainder of the class.

"Bonjour, classe," greeted the teacher. "Comment ca va?"

One of the students in the front row responded, "Ca va bien, Mrs. Lydia."

"C'est Madame Lydia in this classroom." The teacher gave a sweet smile to the student.

"Je suis ton professeur de francais. I am your French teacher this term. My name is Madame Lydia."

Sep. 7, Courtyard of Goldhelm Secondary School, Vancouver; Lunch Break

Thorne didn't really want to see Heather after their conflict in French class, so he wandered to the courtyard to enjoy some food during his lunch break. Surprisingly, the courtyard was not very populate at the time. The only other person he saw was Snow. "Oh, hey, Snow," he waved. "Fancy meeting you here."

"Oh, hello, Thorne," she greeted. "How's your first day of school going?"

"Well… it's been a roller coaster ride. On one hand, I met a cute new guy in my Philosophy class. He's a French exchange student. On the other hand, the student I sit next to in my Social Psychology class is… intense… and Heather is in my French class, but she's… well, she's treating me like some cretin."

"I see… Say, I heard some people talking about something called 'Psykonet'. I wonder… do you know anything about that?" Snow asked.

"Me? Why would I know about that?" Thorne asked, lying to protect himself, and his tuxedo-sporting alternate identity.

"Well, I just assumed, you know?" Snow replied. "I feel like of all people who would know about it, it'd be you. No one really knows where the rumour originated, but I have my suspicions. Everyone seems to be treating it as a joke, though, so if it was you, I don't think I'd have to worry."

"I'm sorry, but… I don't know anything about it," Thorne lied.

"Oh,' Snow sighed. "Well, that's fine. I wonder what this 'Psykonet' thing could even be."

Sep. 7, Room 220 (Mr. Mark's Room), Goldhelm Secondary School, Vancouver; Class Time

Heather was already sitting in Mr. Mark's Room when Thorne finally found his way there. There were a few empty seats… Thorne was tempted to sit next to Heather, but he decided not to. Instead, he took the seat on the other end of the room from her. He somewhat regretted it… Class would have been so much less boring if he had decided to sit next to her. He caught her glancing at him occasionally. He sighed to himself… It was clear that she felt terrible about the consequences of her decisions, even if they had no negative impact on herself.

Sep. 7, Room 050 (Mrs. Weller's Room), Goldhelm Secondary School, Vancouver; Class Time

Thorne took a seat next to Heather during the final block. She sighed. "Look, I'm… I'm sorry… really…"

"No, I… I can tell you're sorry…" Thorne replied, looking into her upset eyes. "Which is why I wanted to suggest… going back."

"Going back?" Heather's eyes simultaneously widened and narrowed. "To… my H.Q.?"

"Yeah," Thorne nodded. "The Masquerade Ball is supposed to start today."

"Hm…" Heather thought for a moment. "Okay, let's do it. We'll go immediately after school."

"Heather," the teacher commented. "Focus on your work."

"S-sorry," Heather groaned.


	12. 1 - A Meeting With a Magician

Sep. 7, Heather Holland's Masquerade, PsykoNet; After School

Immediately upon entering the Headquarters, Heather and Thorne could both immediately tell that something was different. Myriad voices echoed through the halls. It was suspiciously similar to all of the people at school trying to speak over each other in the hallways.

"So this is it… the masquerade ball…" Heather noted. "And they're all celebrating… me?"

"Based on what your Shadow Self's been saying, I would assume, yes," Thorne said with a nod.

Seven walked up to both of them. "I heard through Thorne's cell phone microphone that both of you would be coming here," Seven explained. "Welcome back to my world."

"I feel… welcome, I guess," Heather joked. She still didn't have anything to protect herself with, much less something as strong as a Persona.

"Shall we investigate the masquerade now that it's finally begun?" Thorne suggested.

"I think we shall," Heather nodded. "Let's proceed."

The trio walked out into the ballroom. People in identical masks were dancing in every direction, many with partners, but many content on their own as well. Despite the reactions of the girls in the painting gallery, none of the masquerade participants seemed to pay Thorne, Seven, or Heather any mind. It was as if they were NPCs in a video game, only there to make the place look populated.

There was now music echoing through the ballroom. Thorne decided to listen in on some of the conversations that the dancers were sharing. One masked dancer took a sip of the drink in his wine glass, then said, "Darling, I think your mask is a bit crooked."

"Oh, thank you so much for telling me." The masked person on the other end of the conversation adjusted her mask. "I wouldn't want anyone seeing my real face."

"Neither would I, darling. I wouldn't even want you seeing my real face, love."

"As it should be." The girl kissed her masked partner.

Thorne heard another conversation taking place in the crowded ballroom.

"Heather really did get beautiful over the summer. I'm kinda bummed that I didn't let her sit next to me on that bus."

"Oh, yeah, man," another guest responded. "Like, even Leone is her friend now. I wish I could date one of the girls in that crowd!"

"Screw that!" the first one laughed. "I wish I could date Heather herself! But she's practically a princess now. She's so far out of my league…"

"We… we don't need to listen in on this," Heather insisted. "Can we go check out other things now?"

Thorne guided Seven and Heather up to the second floor. "See that big door? It's got a huge lock on it," he explained. "I wanna see what's inside."

Heather chuckled, "Okay, Agent Thorne."

"Hm…" Thorne also chuckled. "Maybe I should give myself an Agent name. But it'll have to wait, let's go."

There was a guard standing outside the door. However, this one didn't look quite like the other ones. He was taller, and broader, and he looked much stronger. His voice was also considerably deeper than any of the other guards, with an intimidating rasp to it.

"This room's off-limits to the guests," the guard grunted. "Behind this here door is a defective mask that the hostess once wore. Nobody, and I mean nobody, is to enter this room." The guard glared at Thorne. "Also, get a mask on. Are you trying to be rude?"

"Make me," Thorne smirked, Hamlet appearing behind his shoulder.

"All right, that's it, I'm gonna have to take care'a you delinquents on my own." The guard began to transform into a significantly-stronger Shadow than Thorne had ever encountered.

It was a giant knight, in thick, heavy armour, who wielded an enormous sword! The knight's height took up half the tall wall! "I am the Knight in Shining Armour, and I will enforce Her desires without fail!" the Shadow promised.

"I predict a higher probability of your failure than your claim suggests," Seven said robotically.

Thorne smirked, and unleashed an attack with Hamlet's power! Sharp shards of ice materialized in the air as it went cold! They flew toward the Knight in Shining Armour and exploded against his armour! It may not have looked like it pierced the armour, but the Shadow reacted in pain nonetheless.

Seven jumped into action next, summoning Brutus! Brutus dashed forward, coating himself in Nuclear energy, before colliding with the Knight in Shining Armour with the force of an oncoming car! The Shadow took enough damage to be knocked off its feet! The weight of its heavy armour made it difficult for it to get back to its feet, giving Thorne and Seven another chance to attack!

"Thorne, this would be an ideal situation to introduce a new combat technique," Seven explained.

"Huh?" Thorne inquired. "Go on?"

"We can chain our attacks together while the foe is weakened, leading to a Chain Attack," Seven explained. "The power of attacks in a Chain Attack becomes stronger as the chain of attacks extends."

"Sure" Thorne nodded. "Let's do it!" Thorne dashed forward, and jumped up onto the Shadow's knee! He then used the momentum to launch into the air, and fire a trio of bullets into the Shadow's armoured chest!

Seven jumped into action immediately following, following a gatling of small yet sharp Nuclear blasts from his cannon. He jumped up onto the Shadow's chest and used his position to aim a Nuclear blast into the Knight in Shining Armour's visor guard, blasting it open! Two glowing yellow eyes pierced the dark shadows inside the Knight's helmet.

The Knight in Shining Armour charged up power, before performing a spin attack with his huge sword! Both Thorne and Seven were knocked back and damaged! Thankfully, Heather was standing a ways away from the battle, and wasn't hit.

"I said, I will enforce the desires of The Hostess!" repeated the Knight in Shining Armour.

Seven summoned Brutus again! Brutus dashed forward again, this time delivering a flurry of dagger slashes into the Knight's torso! Thorne fired bullets at the same target!

"Persona!" he called. Hamlet removed the skull from the tip of his blade, and slashed at the Knight in Shining Armour as well. Hamlet and Brutus looked into each other's covered eyes, and nodded, then stabbed both their blades deep into the Shadow's armoured chest!

They both dematerialized, returning to their others selves.

The Knight in Shining Armour slashed his heavy sword down onto Thorne, but Thorne was cunning! "Counter!" he shouted, prompting Hamlet to reappear! Hamlet used his power, and his rapier, to block the sword from coming in contact with Thorne! But the Knight in Shining Armour was strong! Thorne could feel his muscles straining as Hamlet pushed against the Shadow's giant blade! "S-Seven!" he shouted.

"On it!" Seven shouted back, blasting rapid-fire Nuclear blasts at the Shadow! At first, it didn't faze the huge Shadow, but eventually it caused it to give up attack Thorne and change its focus!

You delinquents are persistent, I'll give you that," he responded. "But can you take this!?"

The Knight in Shining Armour thrust his sword into the ground, and an explosion of fire blasted up from the marble floors! Thorne was knocked flat off his feet, weak to the effects of the fire! Seven wasn't, though, and charged up a Nuclear blast.

The Shadow went to slash at Thorne again! Seven was still charging his attack, and Thorne was knocked over! Heather's eyes darted around the hall, until she noticed something. There was a chandelier on the ceiling. It wasn't nearly as big as the one in the main ballroom, but… it did have a very sharp point on the bottom. If she could get it to fall from the ceiling, it would impale the Shadow right on its head! She looked around for any objects she could throw at the chandelier!

That was it! There was a flower pot sitting on a table up against a wall. She grabbed it… She hyper-focused her attention… it wasn't a very heavy flower pot, but it also wasn't so light that it wouldn't be able to weigh down on the chandelier. She waved her arm back and forth a few times, preparing for the throw… and threw it!

She watched it fly through the air… but it didn't go high enough to hit the chandelier! However, it did still hit the Shadow, in the shoulder! The Shadow was distracted from attacking Thorne, and turned its attention to the defenseless Heather! It charged for her, meanwhile she had no Persona of her own to Counter the attack it was raring to strike her with!

Seven blasted his charged Nuclear attack at the Knight in Shining Armour! Thankfully, his aim was impeccable, and the Nuclear blast hit the Knight square in the face! The Shadow fell face-forward to the ground! Heather covered her head, hundreds pounds of metal armour falling right on top of her! The Shadow depixelated, turning to nothingness right before it crushed poor Heather. Heather let out a deep sigh of relief.

Seven walked over to Thorne and extended his hand. Thorne took it and Seven helped him back up to his feet. "Thanks."

"Huh?" Heather noticed something on the ground that wasn't there before. "Did that Shadow drop this?" She picked it up. It was a small key, made of glistening gold. "Maybe it'll work on the door!"

"Here," Thorne said, reaching out towards Heather. "Let's try it."

Heather handed over the key to Thorne. He walked over to the door and put the key into the lock. It was way too small for the huge, exaggerated lock, but the key suddenly grew to fit the keyhole. He turned it, and the door creaked open. Thorne looked back, and gestured for Seven and Heather to follow him inside.

"Hold on!" Heather called. She knelt down and picked up one of the flowers that had fallen out of the flower pot when it broke. She ran up to Thorne and put the rose into the chest pocket of his tuxedo. "There, now your formal look is complete!"

"Perhaps your Agent codename should be Agent Rose," Seven suggested.

"Yeah! Agent 'Thorne' Rose! I like it!" Heather grinned.

"Hm…" Thorne thought. "I like it. Agent Rose it is."

Inside the previously-locked room, the first thing Thorne noticed was a glass display case. It looked impenetrable. Inside, there was a mannequin head, and a mask imposed on it. This one looked very different from the other guests' masks, and even from the one that Shadow Heather herself wore. It was a full-face mask. And, for its nature as a mask, it looked exactly like the real Heather's face. Heather looked a little unnerved. "Is that… my face? That's my Shadow's idea of a 'defective mask'?" Heather asked, her voice shaky.

"That's what the guard said…" Thorne noted.

"I guess I can see why…" Heather sighed, upset. "If she was still wearing that, she definitely wouldn't be as popular as she is now, with that glamorous ruby mask she's got."

"There's more exhibits along the walls," Seven pointed out.

One of the exhibits showed Heather's favourite swimsuit. It was the same one that Thorne had watched vanish before his very eyes. Another exhibit showed small doll-like figures of Thorne and Heather hanging out together. The next exhibit that caught Thorne's eye was something he couldn't have expected. A black cat, with a tail that looked poised elegantly. The little cat had blue eyes, and had a bow-tie in the fur pattern on its chest. She ran over to it and put her palms against the glass. "It's my Kitty Noir plushie!"

"You have a Kitty Noir plushie?" Thorne asked, chuckling.

"I love Kitty Noir! He's like my favourite character ever!" Heather admitted. "I have so much merch!"

"Interesting… so why is that here?" Thorne questioned.

"Well… I guess it's probably because… if anyone knew I liked Kitty Noir, they'd think I was childish… No one wants to be seen as childish these days," Heather sighed. "I thought about donating that plushie and moving on, but… I couldn't…"

"So, this is a place where the things you hide from people are put," Thorne noted, putting a finger to his chin. "Interesting… I almost thought it would be more integral to Shadow Heather's scheme…"

"The things that make up Heather's true identity seem to be located here. This door was locked and heavily guarded," Seven pointed out. "The same could be said about Heather herself."

"I-I feel slightly attacked," Heather commented, her face flushing. "Isn't everyone like that these days? Isn't that what the internet is for?"

"Hm… that explains why this is a masquerade ball…and everyone is wearing a mask…" Thorne noted with a nod.

"Huh? What's that supposed to mean!?" Heather half-shouted.

"It almost seems like your beliefs about the uses of the Internet have caused the… people… in your Headquarters to wear masks," Thorne explained.

"Allow me to tell you the official term," Seven offered. "The masked guests who are not Shadows are referred to as Roles. This terminology comes from the fact that they serve a Role in the plans of a Shadow."

"Even the alternate Sam and Maggie in the gallery?" Heather asked.

"They too are Roles," Seven nodded.

"I see…" claimed Heather. "Should we keep going?"

"What's left for us to uncover?" Thorne shrugged.

"That's a fair point… Oh, hey," Heather started, "you wanna go back to reality and go to the mall? It's like the perfect way to wrap the first day of school."

"Seven, what's the current time?" Thorne asked.

"The current time is approximately 3:40 PM," answered Seven.

"Sure, we've got time," Thorne nodded. "You can show me around the mall."

Thorne and Heather both pulled out their phones and tapped the 'Exit' button on their screens. Seven returned to Thorne's cell phone after the two reappeared in reality.

Sep. 7, Public Transit, Vancouver; After School

Heather and Thorne sat next to each other on the bus to the mall. They looked out the window together for a while, before Heather suggested, "Hey. Wanna do a MustReed quiz with me?"

"Oh," Thorne sounded, turning away from the window to face Heather. "Sure."

Thorne and Heather were seated face-to-face, so Heather put her phone down on her lap so that Thorne could see it, and opened her Internet explorer app. She went to search up MustReed quizzes, and the first one that popped up, she read the title aloud. "MustReed: Which X-Station game suits you best?" she read.

"Which X-Station are we talking about?" Thorne asked. "X-Station 4? X-Station 2? X-Station G?"

"I don't know, it just says 'X-Station'. I guess we'll see," Heather giggled. "I'll go first… Question 1: Which colour of these calls out to you? Um… hm… this dark blue one! Okay, Question 2: Which set of armour would you wear?" She looked through the offered selection. "I like this black one, with the big gauntlet!"

"Really?" Thorne asked. "I thought you would go with the sexy one with the red fabric."

"Who do you think I am, some gamer girl?" Heather asked, sounding offended.

"Well, I was just judging based on your internet feed," Thorne blushed.

Heather sighed, but continued the quiz. "Question 3: Which house looks coolest? Um… hm.. this one's tough… I like the cabin!"

"Interesting," commented Thorne. "I think I like that one too."

"It's not your turn yet, is it?" Heather asked, sticking out her tongue.

Thorne chuckled. He felt like he was really close to Heather, even despite all of her personal identity issues.

Indeed, Thorne had forged a special link with Heather: The Magician. Symbolizing talents, resources, and self-initiated transformation, Heather would soon awaken to something great, right before Thorne's eyes.


	13. 1 - The Mall, Cupcakes, and The Empress

Sep. 7, Public Transit, Vancouver; After School

"It says the X-Station game that best suits me is…" Heather waited for the screen to change, then read aloud the results, "Dance If You Want 2016."

"You like dancing?" Thorne asked.

"No," Heather slumped. "This MustReed quiz is shit." She chuckled.

"Okay, my turn," Thorne said with an unnecessarily-determined nod.

"Sure. So, which of these colours do you like?" Heather asked, reading off her phone screen.

Thorne looked through them… They were all rather pleasant colours. There was a lavender purple, a deep, abyssal blue, a seafoam green, and an autumnal red. "Hm…" he mumbled while looking through them.

"It's taking you a long time to pick a colour," Heather commented.

"Sorry, uh… is this decision going to effect the plot later on?" Thorne asked jokingly.

"I mean, probably not," Heather replied with a hearty chuckle. "Just pick one."

"I like the… red," Thorne said with finality.

"Red it is," Heather nodded, and tapped the red square. "Next, which set of armour?"

"Hm…" There were four pictures of armour. The one Heather had chosen was a masculine-looking black one with a huge gauntlet on the left hand and a scarf around the neck. There was also a female model wearing a skimpy set of gold armour with see-through red fabric underneath it. The third option was a cool Viking-looking set with horns on the helmet. Lastly, there was a set of armour with fox ears and a fox tail, both made of metal. "I think… I think I like the bottom-right one," Thorne answered.

"The fox one? Really?" Heather questioned.

"Yeah. It looks cute, I like cute things."

"Pick a building," Heather instructed.

"The cabin, like you," Thorne nodded.

"And… your X-Station game is…!" Heather waited for the results to load. "Monster Lover!"

"Is that that one open-world game with all the gigantic monsters that you get to tame and keep as pets?" Thorne asked for confirmation.

"Yeah," Heather answered. "The cover it's showing on here is from Monster Lover: Generations."

"Cool! I'm down for that," Thorne chuckled. "Oh, is that the mall?" he asked, seeing a large, wide building appear in his vision.

"Yeah!" Heather confirmed. "Where do you wanna shop first?"

"I don't know any of the stores here," Thorne reminded.

"Oh, that's true, you're a newbie. Well," Heather said, getting up from her chair and grabbing the handle on the ceiling, preparing to unboard the bus. "If it's all right with you, I wanna stop at Teamension and get a nice cold iced tea."

"Oh, there was a Teamension in my hometown," Thorne smiled. "Sure. I love tea."

"Good. Who doesn't love tea?" giggled Heather as the bus came to its stop.

Sep. 7, Lavendera Mall, Vancouver; After School

"I don't remember hearing about this mall before. I feel like I'd hear about a mall this big in Vancouver," Thorne pointed out.

"Actually, it's kinda recent. It just got built about two years ago," explained Heather. "But thanks to the location, it got big fast."

"I see…" Thorne nodded. "Show me around!"

"Let's go!"

Inside, the mall was sleek and modern. There was a fountain in the middle of the main wing of the mall, with stairs nearby. There were already people sitting at the benches around the fountain. Thorne looked up to see a skylight casting down over the fountain.

"Teamension is on the second floor," heather explained.

Thorne followed her there.

"Thorne." Thorne heard something from inside his pocket. "Can you hear me?"

Thorne pulled out his phone and put it up to his ear to make it look like he was taking a call. "What's up, Seven?"

"I heard you were going shopping," Seven said. "Might I recommend buying some things to take into Psykonet with you when you return?"

"That does sound like a smart idea," he admitted.

Seven continued, "If you're buying tea, there may be some teas with healing effects that may be strengthened by the presence of your Persona."

"I see," nodded Thorne. "I didn't even think of that. I'll look into it."

Thorne went up to the shop counter. An employee was there to see him right away. "Hi there! What can I get for you?"

"Hm…" Thorne looked at the selection of teas on the wall behind the counter. "Do you have any teas with 'healing effects'?"

"As a matter of fact, we actually do!" the employee enthused. "Is there a specific taste you're looking for, or any specific ingredients?"

"Nah."

"Perfect. I'll bring down your options for teas with strong healing qualities. Or, healing quali-teas, if you will." The employee turned back to the wall of tea tins and brought down a few. "Here we have a eucalyptus-heavy tea. You may think of eucalyptus as a topical remedy, but it's actually good for your insides too. Oh, we also have a popular activated charcoal tea. It's kind of bitter, but it has sweetening ingredients in it like fruits. Activated black charcoal is really good for cleansing your body of foreign substances. It would be really handy if for any reason you found yourself inflicted with poison."

Thorne chuckled. "You'd be surprised."

"I… am not gonna ask," the employee said. "See anything you'd like?"

"I'll take both," Thorne said.

"How much would you like? We have 25g packs, 50g packs, and 100g packs," the employee explained.

"25g of each should be good for now," Thorne nodded. He waited for the employee to package the tea, and bag it, and hand it to him.

"Do you have a Lavender Points Card?" asked the Teamension employee.

"Huh?" Thorne sounded. "What's that?"

"Some companies have points cards, but Lavendera Mall actually has its own points card that can be used at all of the outlets in the mall," explained the androgynous employee.

"I see… well, I don't have one." Thorne rubbed the back of his hair.

"You can get one at the Customer Service counter by V.G. Games." The employee pointed in the direction of the store. "It's also across the hall from the book store, if you're having trouble finding it. Anyway, your total comes to $20.30"

Thorne used his debit card to complete the transaction, and took his purchase with him. The second floor wasn't really that high up, but looking over the railing the first floor seemed farther down than it should have seemed.

"So," Heather asked after taking a sip of a vibrant blue iced tea, "where to next?"

"Can you think of any stores that would carry anything useful to our… excursions?" asked Thorne.

"Hm…" Heather pondered. "The pharmacy?"

"Good thinking," congratulated Thorne. "Where's that?"

"The go-to pharmacy around here would probably be SpendWay, right?"

"I 'unno," shrugged Thorne. "I guess."

"That's down by the back parking lot. I'll show you." Heather led Thorne to the large grocery store. There was an empty shop across the hall.

"What's going there?" Thorne asked.

"Nobody knows," Heather said in a mock-mysterious tone. "Some people think it's gonna be another big-time store like SpendWay. Other people think it's going to end up being a whole new area of the mall. I'm not sure, myself. Would be cool if it was a whole new area, wouldn't it?"

Thorne shrugged. "I haven't even been to all the stores that are currently here yet."

"Well, we'll find out what's going in there soon, since the proposed date for the construction to be complete is in only a month!"

"I feel like there'd be more done by now if it's only a month away," Thorne noted.

"You silly," Heather scoffed. "That's just a display, so that there's not a bunch of construction equipment in the middle of the mall."

"Oh…" Thorne blushed, rubbing the back of his hair.

"Okay, I'll look around, and I'll get whatever I think will help us," Heather nodded. "Anything else we need besides drugs?"

"Hmm…" pondered Thorne. "Nothing I can think of. Let's focus on getting medical stuff."

Heather and Thorne regrouped at the self check-out registers. Combined, they had purchased two packets of antibacterial ointment, two packets of burn cream, and two packages of stick-on bandages.

"I think that should do," Thorne said tentatively.

"Okay, perfect!" Heather smiled. "Let's get on our ways home now. I already got homework from my first block teacher…" she groaned.

Sep. 8, Goldhelm Secondary School, Vancouver; Shortly Before School

Thorne had woken up feeling much more refreshed than yesterday, thanks to having a good rest. He had arrived at school with a slightly better attitude than yesterday as well. He passed by Heather, and attempted to wave at her.

She ignored him again today…

Thorne looked closely at the girls she was hanging out with… He didn't recognize their eyes, but he did recognize their face shapes, lips, and notably their hair. Were these the real Maggie and Sam that Heather had mentioned? Thorne sighed.

He couldn't help but overhear their conversation.

"Heather, by the way," Maggie began, "that picture you posted last night was really cool! That outfit was so nice!"

"Oh, heh," Heather blushed. "Thanks."

"Yeah! It looks like something I would wear!" Sam commented.

"Oh, that's nice…" Heather said blankly.

Thorne noticed that Heather looked uncomfortable… He sighed, feeling sorry that she felt she had to put herself in that situation just for people to like her.

"Oh hey, man," Thorne also heard someone say. It was one of the sports team kids, as evidenced by their outfit. "That Psykonet thing…" The boy looked around, before not-really-whispering into his friend's ear. "I heard one of the students found it on their phone?"

"Whoa," the other sports kid responded. "Who?"

The first guy shrugged. "I don't know, man. I just heard it was someone."

"It's probably just some prank using the rumours," the other kid chuckled.

"Yeah, that's probably true, but still... I only heard of the rumour yesterday. Isn't it a little early for people to starting using it as a prank?"

"Maybe. But it's a dumb urban myth anyway." Both of the boys brushed it off with a laugh.

Sep. 8, Room 208 (Mr. Manning's Room), Goldhelm Secondary School, Vancouver; Class Time

Thorne was excited to see Marc in his first class. Marc was early, just as he had been yesterday. His books were already open, and he was sketching something in the corner of one of his notebook pages.

"What'cha drawing?" Thorne asked, sitting down next to him.

"Oh, me?" Marc asked. "I am drawing a… hm… a jellyfish."

"You like jellyfish?" Thorne asked, slightly confused.

"I think they're elegant," Marc commented.

"I see…" Thorne smiled.

The lesson began before long.

During the rest of his classes that day, he remained quite, as to abide by his unfortunate contract with Heather to only converse when absolutely necessary.

Sep. 8, Goldhelm Secondary School, Vancouver; After School

Thorne ran up to the bus stop, but it was simply no use… he'd missed the bus. And to add insult to injury, it was raining as of fourth block, too. He slouched upsetly, his bag weighing on his shoulders.

Before he knew it, there was a hand extended in front of him. Inside the hand, he saw the curved handle of an umbrella. He looked up. There was a girl standing there, with a raincoat (the hood drawn up) and straight dark-brown hair which rested on both her shoulders. She was ever-slightly dark of skin, and had earthy green eyes. When her gaze met Thorne's, she smiled. "Here, take my umbrella for now. It looks like you need it."

"Huh? Oh, I couldn't…" Thorne responded.

"No, I insist," the girl pressed. "I have my own raincoat. Uh… but I am gonna need it back when I get to my house."

"Well… if you insist." Thorne weakly smiled and took the umbrella. He opened it and held it over his head. His hair was already dripping from the rain. "What's your name?"

"Sara Dyll," the girl answered. "You?"

"Thorne Blackwood."

"Wow, now that's a cool name!"

Thorne chuckled.

"Wanna walk home together?" Sara asked.

"I… I live all the way on the outskirts of town…" Thorne sighed. "But I might as well walk to a public bus stop."

"Sounds good. So, I don't think I've seen you before," noted Sara. "And trust me, I'd notice a new face. I'm the President of the Student Leadership Committee. Which is, like, not to brag, but, like, the second-best thing to being the Student Council President."

Thorne chuckled. "My queen."

Sara blushed, grinning widely. "We have a small storage of umbrellas and raincoats in the Leadership Room that we lend out on an honour basis. Not a lot of students know about it."

"Sounds helpful," commented Thorne.

Sara changed the topic. "So, there's this cupcake place kinda close to school… wanna get some 'cakes? It's a little expensive, for cupcakes, but I mean, I like stopping in and getting a single cupcake to snack on."

"Are you asking me out on a date?" Thorne asked, chuckling.

Sara froze. "Wha-!? How dare you jump to conclusions like that!?"

Thorne's face flattened, "Whoa, geez… uh… sorry."

"Well… do you wanna go?"

"Yeah, sure, what's the place called?" Thorne asked.

"Sweet Dreams," Sara answered with a nod.

"Ooh, sounds fancy," Thorne commented.

Sep. 8, Sweet Dreams, Vancouver; After School

Sara was right about it being a short walk away from school. It wasn't very busy, either. In fact, no one was in the patisserie when Sara and Thorne arrived. Sara walked up to the glass display case. There were lots of freshly-decorated cupcakes on display. They came in all different colours.

"Hello there," greeted the busy shop owner, who had a smear of baby blue icing on her pale cheek. "How can I help you?"

"Can I get a S'Mores Cupcake?" Sara asked.

"I'll get that for you right away," said the shop owner with a nod. "Anything else?" She grabbed a pair of disposable gloves from underneath the counter.

"That's all," Sara answered.

"And for you, sir?" asked the shop owner.

Thorne hardly heard himself being spoken to. He was mesmerized by the intricate cupcake topping designs. Each one was topped with an utterly perfect swirl of thick icing, each a different colour. Thorne's eyes were drawn to a few options. First, a mint-green-iced chocolate-mint cupcake with a fresh mint leaf poking through the icing. Second, a blue-iced cupcake with blueberries stuck into the swirling icing. Third and finally, a creamy chocolate cupcake with a graham cracker embedded in the swirling icing. A small sign excitedly proclaimed 'Melted marshmallow INSIDE'!

"Um, sir?" the shop own asked again.

"Oh gosh, sorry." Thorne shook his head. "Uh, I'll have a S'Mores Cupcake."

"Two S'Mores Cupcakes, coming right up!" the woman grinned, and put the two cupcakes into tiny boxes with see-through tops. "There you are. Is that together or separate?"

"Sep-" Thorne started.

"Together," Sara interrupted.

"Oh…" sounded Thorne. "All right then."

"Awesome," the shop's owner nodded. "So, your total is $8.90."

Sara paid using a shiny black debit card. "You can thank me later," she smugly said.

Thorne chuckled and rubbed the back of his head. "I owe you, I guess."

Thorne had forged a special link with Sara: The Empress. Symbolizing femininity, the pursuit of fulfillment, and the acceptance of inevitable emotions, Sara's quirky personality would show Thorne ways of treating life that he otherwise may not have learned.

The cupcakes were as delicious as they were aesthetic, and Thorne and Sara munched on them as they conversed across the table about Thorne's experiences being a new student at Goldhelm.

"So, shall we part ways here?" Sara suggested.

Thorne nodded.

"I'm gonna need my umbrella back," chuckled Sara.

(CHAPTER EDITED DUE TO INCONSISTENCY.)


	14. 1 - A Fatal Test

Sep. 8, Location Unverified, PsykoNet; Time Unverified

The surroundings were an unending expanse of pure blackness. However, the ground under the feet of those who were present seemed lit by a dim, non-existent spotlight. There was a man. He had fluffy hair and round, but not fat, facial features. "Alex, report," a voice spoke through a filter of static.

"I-I'm in…" the man stuttered, legs shaking. "What next?"

"Locate your Shadow, and prepare for combat," instructed the static-filtered voice. "We've given you a sub-machine gun, so remember to use it."

"Y-yes ma'am," the man, Alex, said through the nervous spit filling his mouth.

Alex proceeded forward, clutching the gun he was given tight to his body. He looked around frantically, eyes darting. The horizon of darkness seemed so empty… there were no sounds, no lights… nothing…

"It was a clever plan you devised, my dear assistant." It was undoubtedly Boss's voice. "Searching through our staff to see who has a Headquarters, then sending them in to face their Shadow and Awaken to a Persona."

"I… I'm glad you think that, Boss. I'm flattered by your compliment," stammered Boss's female assistant. "However… I'm worried… we've never had one of our staff enter the PsykoNet without a headset… will he be all right by himself?"

"You worry too much, dear," Boss sighed. "Just bask in the genius of your plan. Once we have someone on our team who can wield a Persona of their own, we can begin to dig deeper into the PsykoWeb."

Suddenly, a light appeared before Alex. It was as if he was looking into a mirror. Except his reflection didn't have a gun, and instead had a large scar down his chest that tore through his white uniform.

"Y-you must b-be my S-Shadow," Alex stuttered, changing his position to make himself look tougher.

"Indeed I am, Alex. Aren't you clever?" the Shadow complimented. "You've done a clever job of hiding your true identity. I owe you great thanks for creating me."

"Yeah… y-you're right," Alex nodded. "You really do owe me thanks." He aimed the gun straight at the Shadow, and put his finger on the trigger.

"Oh," the Shadow sighed. "Is that the sort of 'you're welcome' I get?"

Alex pulled back the trigger of the gun, and it fired rapid rounds right into the Shadow's body, spitting caps back behind him!

The Shadow seemed hardly damaged. "That's a bit rude."

"U-uh… m-ma'am!? The gun isn't working!?" Alex shouted into his earpiece.

"Boss, what are we going to do?" the assistant hissed, turning to her superior.

"Tell him to engage the Shadow," Boss instructed.

"Try engaging your Shadow first," mediated the assistant.

"Y-you're not the real me," Alex timidly said to his Shadow. "I'm the only real me."

"No, Alex, I am you, and you are me. That is the only way in which our coexistence can work," the Shadow spat. Black mist started to consume the Shadow, as the silhouette of the Shadow began to grow morbidly behind the smokey screen.

Alex fired more machine gun rounds into the Shadow's body, but the Shadow's transformation didn't stop.

Before he could even see it coming, a sharp black appendage was ripping through his torso, and took no time to burst out of his back. Alex peered in horror at what had become of his Shadow, as blood spurted up into his mouth, dripping down his chin.

Even under the headset she was wearing, the terror on the assistant's face was as clear as day. "Alex? Alex!?" She slammed her palms down on the control panel before her! "Alex, report!"

Boss leaned forward in his chair, linking his fingers together.

"A-Alex's signal… it's gone… Did we just…" The assistant buried her headset-covered face in her hands, running her fingers through her shiny black hair.

The Boss sighed.


	15. 1 - The Tense Day of School

Sep. 9, Goldhelm Secondary School, Vancouver; Shortly Before School

Heather was with the crowd she had been with since the first day of school a couple days ago. There were six girls present around the table where they were seated. There was Heather, Samantha, Margaret, Leone, and two new girls; a small, skinny girl named Rosanna and a tall, well-endowed girl named Celeste.

They chatted, ignoring everything outside their circle. However, they did notice the familiar scar-faced boy as he walked past their table on his way to his classroom. Leone chuckled under her breath. "Look, it's The Beast."

All of the other girls also chuckled. Heather was late, but she forced a chuckle out of her throat as well.

Samantha chimed in, "What's his deal, even? He's just some trouble-maker with no life goals."

"That's not already his deal?" Maggie sneered. "I thought causing trouble was his life goal!"

"I bet he thinks we're afraid of him," Leone scoffed.

Celeste moved some of her wavy Mitsuru-red hair out of her violet-coloured eye, and spoke. "I dare you to say that to his face." She smirked through her glossed lips.

"What?" Leone gasped. "Do you _want_ me to die!?"

Celeste shrugged her shoulders smugly. "You said you weren't afraid of him."

"Moving on…" Rosanna chimed in. "Heather, what's up with you?"

Heather hardly heard herself being acknowledged through the conflicting messages in her brain.

"Heather?" Rosanna asked again.

"Huh? Oh sorry, did you say something to me?" Heather asked, shaking her head.

"Yeah, I did," Rosanna sighed. "Have you been getting enough sleep?" Rosanna sounded genuinely concerned.

"Mmh… well, no," answered Heather.

"Is something wrong?" asked Rosanna.

"Yeah, everything's fine," Heather lied. "No one gets enough sleep these days anyway, right?" she joked.

Thorne walked by and happened to spot his friend in the distance. He could see how uncomfortable she was… did she really think she would be happy if she kept that up?

"Don't get too attached," someone said to him. "She's totally gone."

"Huh?" Thorne turned around.

There was a girl standing there, though she wasn't very feminine at all. She had short, ruffly hair and a square jaw, and defined shoulders. "I see you looked at Heather," the girl clarified. "Don't get your hopes up."

"What do you mean?" asked Thorne.

"I used to be her friend, before she killed her reputation" the girl explained. "Now, she's somehow weaseled her way into… that crowd. Trust me, and don't try to be her friend. She'll just let you down."

"Um… okay…" Thorne said blankly. "What's your name?"

"Chara," replied the girl. "And you?"

"Thorne."

"Well, see you 'round," Chara waved, then left.

Thorne watched Chara leave with a confused expression. He turned back to Heather, and sighed. "Killed her reputation…?" Thorne mumbled to himself. "How did that happen?" He shook his head. "I'll have to ask her later."

Sep. 9, Room 102 (Miss Berot's Room), Goldhelm Secondary School, Vancouver; Second Block

Thorne's feature class of the day was his second block Social Psychology class: the class he shared with the quiet, beastly Luke Daniels. He sat down in the same seat. He set up his books. Luke was already sitting there. His eyebrow looked like it must have hurt from being constantly furrowed so harshly.

"Look," Thorne sighed. "I don't know what your reputation is, but… if there's something bothering you… I can give you… my contact info or something?"

Luke ignored him.

Thorne sighed. He turned his attention to the lesson, which was about to begin.

"As we discussed yesterday, this particular Social Psychology class has a focus on the Internet and its effects on people's interactions in the real world," Ms. Berot lectured. "Today, we'll discuss the effects of media consumption on individuals."

"Ooh," Thorne sounded. This information could help him understand Heather's situation.

"As I'm sure it's easy to observe," began Ms. Berot, "the media that people consume leaves a lasting effect on them. For example, when you see a horror movie, and you leave the theatre still feeling uneasy, that piece of media has left a lasting effect on you. Similarly, the much smaller bite-size chunks of media that we consume through social media platforms on the Internet leave a similar subconscious effect on us."

Thorne listened intently to the lecture, hoping to use the information to benefit his understanding of Heather's situation. It was only until after Ms. Berot stopped talking that Thorne even realized how invested he was. He smiled proudly, feeling quite intelligent thanks to his strong focus.

Sep. 8, Goldhelm Secondary School, Vancouver; Lunch Break

Thorne sat down at a table in the cafeteria. He was surprised he was able to even get a free table in the crowded cafeteria. He hadn't brought anything to eat, but thankfully he wasn't hungry. He could see Heather and her group of 'friends' sitting at the same table as always. He glanced over occasionally to see how Heather was holding up, but otherwise he tried not to look like a stalker. People already expected him to be crazy, he didn't have to perpetuate that reputation.

He looked down at his phone. There was a new message waiting to be read. He opened his messaging app, and read the new message. It was from someone who hadn't messaged him before.

"If you try to talk to me again, I'll beat the shit out of you. And don't test me, because I'm not joking," the message read. The sender, Luke.

Thorne gulped. He thought about sending a response, but he was struck with a sudden fear. Luke may have been troubled, but he was muscular and rough-looking. If he said he could beat you up, he probably could. Thorne shook his head and closed his messaging app.

A familiar face sat across from him at his table. "How's it going, new kid?" the girl asked. It was Sara.

"Um…" Thorne's expression spoke for itself.

"I see…" Sara sighed. "Yeah, it can be tough. And you're in Grade 12, too. Must be rough having to adapt to a new school when you're pretty much already graduated, huh?"

He nodded.

"It doesn't look like you have anything for lunch," noticed Sara. She offered, "Do you want a granola bar or something?"

"No, I'm good," Thorne said, shaking his head. "Really."

"All right, if you insist," Sara responded. "So, how are your classes going? Are they posing a challenge?"

Thorne shrugged. "Not really. Yet, at least."

"Well, if you keep up with your studying, you should have an easy time," Sara smiled. "I guess that goes without saying, but it's especially true here."

Thorne smiled with his eyes.

"Oh, hey, it's kinda early, but, um," Sara began, "here at Goldhelm we're big on Halloween celebrations." She shrugged, "Don't ask me why. I guess it's just a school tradition. But we need all the help we can get in order for it to go smoothly. If you'd like to volunteer, I'd really appreciate it."

"I'm guessing it's managed by the Leadership Committee?" Thorne assumed.

"Correct!" Sara nodded. "And now that I'm the President of the Leadership Committee, I really want to make this year's Halloween celebration something to remember. I'm working on obtaining the permission to host a school dance… during school hours, possibly."

"That's cool," Thorne smirked. "My old school never had dances. I mean literally never. The only dance the entire school got to have was prom."

"Canadian schools be like that sometimes," Sara said in a joking tone. "So, are you down to help?"

"Wait, you're asking for an RSVP _now_?" Thorne gasped. "Sara, it's the second week of September."

"Well, you can take some time to answer, if you need time to think," she blushed, chuckling awkwardly. "I'll text you about it when you've run out of time to think. Deal?"

"Uh," Thorne sounded. "Deal, I guess."

"Great!" she cheered.

The bell rang, signifying the start of the fourth block.

"Well, gotta go," Sara said as she got up from her seat. "See ya later!"

Thorne waved goodbye, and made his way to his next class.

Sep. 9, Room 050 (Mrs. Weller's Room), Goldhelm Secondary School, Vancouver; Fifth Block

Thorne turned to speak to Heather before the class began. "Hey," he greeted.

"What's up?" she asked.

"Someone spoke to me before first block," Thorne answered. "Said her name was Chara?"

Heather's eyes narrowed at the mention of the name. "Chara? She spoke to you? What about?"

"About, well, you," answered Thorne. "She was telling me she used to be your friend. She tried to convince me not to… go after you, I guess? Not that that's what I would want to do, anyway."

Heather sighed. "Yeah, me and Chara used to be friends…"

"Would you tell me about it?" he asked.

She nodded tiredly, and continued, "Well, before everyone started to hate me… she was my friend. But, she abandoned me just like everyone else."

"What did you do that made everyone dislike you?" Thorne inquired.

"I… I don't know…" she sighed. "I'm… not sure…" She opened up her notebook. "Can we stop talking about it?"

Thorne hung his head, opening his notebook too, and remaining quiet.


	16. 1 - Heather's Resolve

Sep. 9, Public Transit, Vancouver; Shortly After School

Thorne had successfully caught the after-school bus today, and was looking through the feed on his phone. There were a lot of posts to see. There was a string of comments underneath one of Heather's posts. He decided to read it.

The first comment: "Wow, she's so stunning. She took a huge 180."

The second comment, from another person: "If she had a Shadow, I bet it would be a princess."

A third comment, from another new commenter: "She's so popular. I'm totally jealous."

Thorne's expression was a mash-up of emotions as he read the comments. On one hand, it must have been really flattering for Heather to receive such comments. On the other hand, this wasn't really who she was, and he was the only one who seemed to know that.

He continued to scroll down through his feed. He noticed a picture from one of his classmates who he hadn't ever really bothered to talk to. He remembered that she sat at the same table as Heather and the other girls. It was a red-haired girl named Celeste. His eyes narrowed in shock at what he saw on his phone screen. He looked around frantically to make sure nobody else saw his phone screen.

The picture that Celeste had posted was incredibly suggestive. It was an image of her teasing to remove her own underwear in front of a camera. He shook his head and frantically scrolled past the image. He looked down at the comments of the image.

"Wow," said one commenter.

Another commenter shamelessly wrote, "I wish she'd just take it off."

Thorne scowled. How inappropriate… Was that how Celeste had managed her way into the girls' posse? "I suppose sex is popular," he muttered to himself.

He continued scrolling down. He came across a post that mentioned Luke. "Luke totally glared at me today. You know, those glares of his that say he's plotting your murder. Should I call the police? I feel unsafe."

Someone commented, "You probably should T.B.H."

The original poster had replied, "I want to, but what if he finds out I did? I'd be dead!"

Thorne sighed. What a toxic environment… perhaps it would be better to avoid it entirely…

Just then, he got a text from Heather. He opened it and read it to himself. "Hey," she greeted.

"Hey," he responded. In a second message, he sent, "What's up?"

"I just got home," Heather answered. "You?"

He thought about how to respond… He could confront her about how her actions were affecting him… "You look really uncomfortable when you're with those girls," he noted.

She replied, "You have no clue. They're amoral. But people who like them (everyone) also like me, so it's not like I have a choice."

"Heather, this isn't a T.V. drama," Thorne typed, and sighed in reality. "You do have a choice. Maybe you just don't see that you do."

Meanwhile, behind Heather's phone, she squared her shoulders. "To be honest, you're right," she sent. "I'm exhausted trying to keep up this act… But I feel trapped by the expectations of everyone…"

Thorne had a suggestion. "What if we confront your Shadow?"

"What would that even accomplish? That just puts me in danger."

Thorne replied, "It's worth a shot, no?"

"Yeah…" Heather replied. "You're right, it is."

Sep. 9, Heather Holland's Masquerade, PsykoNet; After School

Thorne and Heather both arrived at the entrance of Heather's Headquarters at around the same time. "I'm hungry…" Heather groaned.

"Have you been eating regularly?" Thorne asked, concerned.

"Um… yes…?" Heather answered, obviously lying.

Thorne sighed.

Seven walked up. "Good to see you both here again."

"Hi, Seven!" Heather waved. "How's it been?"

"Thorne's phone is a comfortable vessel for me," the Android said.

"Seven," Thorne began, "I have something to ask."

"I am obliged to answer your question," Seven responded.

"How do we get rid of a Headquarters?"

"Well, that's both a simple task, and a complicated one," explained Android 07. "The short answer is that you'd have to kill the Shadow Boss who's running the H.Q."

"Kill my Shadow?" Heather gasped.

"There are essentially no real-world consequences to killing a person's Shadow in PsykoNet. After all, you in reality and the persona you portray online are not one in the same," Seven continued to explain. "Killing a Shadow is like destroying someone's digital mask. However, it will have a slight effect on the real person behind the Shadow. It will essentially disable them from continuing to use their online identity."

"Sounds kind of… manipulative…" Heather noted with a sigh. "However, I'm desperate. Thorne, I give you permission to kill my Shadow."

"Sounds good!" Thorne said, giving a thumbs-up. "Let's go then!"

"It should be fairly easy to attract the attention of Shadow Heather," Seven nodded. "After all, we are already her targets."

The trio went out into the main ballroom. However, there was an impassable line of people in the way. "They're so tightly packed…" Thorne groaned. "We won't be able to slip through them."

"That sucks…" Heather sighed.

"Thorne, perhaps you have a gadget that would be of use," Seven suggested.

"A gadget?" Thorne asked, confused.

"I noticed that there is a grappling hook attached to your belt," Seven pointed out.

"Oh, is that what that is? I had no clue," Thorne awkwardly chuckled. "Okay, wow, I literally am I spy."

Heather laughed.

Thorne grabbed the grappling hook off of his belt and looked around… Where could he fire it? His visor helped him out by highlighting the chandelier. "Ah-ha!" he exclaimed. He fired the grappling hook gadget at the chandelier, and the chain shot out, gripping tight to the metallic fixture! "Heather, hold on," Thorne instructed.

He grabbed onto Heather's waist and the strong, sturdy grappling hook pulled the two of them up on top of the glamorous chandelier. The sea of people below looked even denser from up above. Seven turned into his code form and teleported on top of the chandelier as well. "Where will we go from here?" the Android asked.

"There's a balcony over there. I don't see any other way to get to it," Thorne acknowledged. "Maybe I can grapple over to it." He shoot his grappling hook at the railing of the balcony, and grabbed onto Heather, and the two of them were pulled over to the balcony.

"Whoa… that was close…" Heather panted.

"Sorry," Thorne awkwardly chuckled. "I'm still new at this."

They proceeded through the balcony door. What they didn't expect to see on the other side of the door was another guard! "Hello," the guard said smugly. "You're the unmasked intruders."

"Wow, you recognized me?" Thorne asked, putting a hand up to his mouth in faked surprise. "Wow, guys, I'm popular!"

Heather chuckled.

"Don't get cocky, intruder! I have orders to eliminate you by any means necessary!" the guard shouted, beginning to gruesomely transform into a Shadow!

Thorne was slightly surprised to see that the guard transformed into not one, but two Shadows at once! Both of the Shadows were identical. They were both golden statues. The Ideal. Or rather, two Ideals.

Seven stepped forward, and Heather took a stand behind Thorne's back!

"They who do not conform to the ideals of society shall be condemned," the first Ideal proclaimed.

The second Ideal chimed in, "Quality is inseparable from beauty. Those who refuse to strive for beauty are worthless!"

Clearly, the Shadow's words cut deep into Heather's mind. She peered down at the ground.

Thorne prepared for combat. He managed the first attack! He fired his pistol right through one of the Shadows' foreheads! The Shadow retaliated by firing an orb of dark energy at Thorne! However, Seven fired a Nuclear blast at the dark orb, knocking it off course! Then, the Android fired another Nuclear blast at the Shadow! The Shadow was knocked down!

Thorne saw an opportunity! He fired his grappling hook at the unharmed Ideal, and used the chain's strength to launch the Shadow at its twin! The two of them collided, taking great damage!

"Seven! Take care of them!" Thorne instructed.

"Yes, sir!" Seven agreed, saluting Agent Rose. He summoned Brutus, and had the Persona blast a powerful, long-lasting beam of Nuclear energy at both of The Ideals! The Shadows faded before the beam was even finished firing.

Thorne smirked. "Mission accomplished!" he proclaimed with confidence, spinning his pistol around his finger.

Suddenly, a familiar distorted voice echoed through the entire masquerade hall.

"How's everyone doing?" the voice asked. "I hope everyone's enjoying the party!"

The dense population in the ballroom let out a roar of cheering.

"Good to hear!" the distorted voice continued.

Heather, Thorne, and Seven both returned to the balcony, where they could watch what was about to unfold.

The speaker was, of course, Shadow Heather. "It's time for a new festivity, which I like to call…" She paused for dramatic effect. "The Gauntlet! Where we pit two people against each other to make me look better!"

Heather looked away, unable to continue watching. Thorne noticed, and sighed.

"I need everyone to line up along the walls of the ball room," the Shadow Boss instructed. "Our combatants will need plenty of room to be able to duke it out!" She winked, as if she wasn't about to send two innocent people into battle together, and was instead introducing a celebrity guest.

The guests obediently lined the ballroom walls.

"So," said Shadow Heather excitedly, "who will be our first participant?"

The ball's guests chattered amongst themselves. However, one voice was louder than them all.

"I will!"

It was Heather herself.


	17. 1 - Masquerade (Vs Shadow Heather)

Sep. 9, Heather Holland's Masquerade, PsykoNet; After School

Heather jumped down from the balcony, landing unsteadily on the ball room dance floor below. Thorne gasped, and jumped down with her! Seven followed.

"Our first participant, hm?" Shadow Heather smirked.

Heather walked forward. Thorne wanted to stop her, and to protect her, but he couldn't bring himself to get in her way.

"Oh wow!" gasped Shadow Heather. She walked onto the dance floor as well. The sound of her high heels tapping on the marble floors echoed like sharp, cold droplets as if the giant ballroom was a bat's cave. Beside her, a man in a black suit stood, holding up a tray with confections on it. The man wore a masquerade mask the same colour as his suit, which obscured only his eyes and nose. His mouth was frozen in a still, flat expression.

Shadow Heather also wore a masquerade mask. It was unlike all of the other strange guests' masks, though. It shined with metallic silver and dazzling ruby. Flourishing feathers flaired from the ear, curling around her updone, shiny black hair. "What an awesome mask you're wearing, Heather!"

Heather stared blankly at her Shadow. "I'm… not wearing a mask…"

The red-dressed woman laughed, covering her mouth modestly with a silk-gloved hand. The silk of her glove sparkled in the chandelier's swaying light like bubbles in white wine. "Of course you are! I can hardly make out your face! If I wasn't you, I'd not know who you were!"

"What? If you weren't me?" Heather, a concerned expression on her pale face, turned to face Thorne. Thorne looked back, but remained silent. Heather spoke up again, "What are you talking about? I'm not wearing a mask."

The exceptionally masked Shadow Boss turned to face Thorne. "You. My familiar intruder. Why aren't you wearing a mask? This is a masquerade ball. You'll ruin everything if you don't put one on."

Thorne gasped, unsure of how to respond. His face hardened into an opposing glare. "Is my tuxedo not enough for you?"

"No, sir," responded the lady. "As a matter of fact, it is not. I can still see who you are."

"W-what do you want?" Heather asked, pulling the attention back to her. Thorne reached down to his belt, placing a cautious hand on his pistol.

"Actually, what I want came right to me," smiled the woman. "Heather, I'm you. And you're me."

"What? No you're not… You're just a false Shadow!" Heather responded, expression blank. "Who are you!?"

"Ugh, really?" sighed the figure. "I just told you. I'm you. And you're-"

"I'm me!" Heather shouted, frustration reddening her cheeks. "I don't know who the hell you are!"

"Isn't that true? You don't, do you? You don't even know your own self," chuckled the Shadow, her gold eyes glowing and illuminating through the mask's shadows that were cast on her face.

Thorne tensed up, preparing for combat.

Heather attempted not to falter, but it was difficult.

"You don't even know you're wearing a mask, do you?" the Shadow asked, pressing a finger to her forehead nose bridge. "You hide your true identity so well you've forgotten what it even is."

"I know exactly who I am," defended Heather. But the tone of her voice showed clear unsureness.

"You're a wonderful actress, Heather," complimented her Shadow. "Your illusions fool even yourself. But, heh, that's exactly what you want, isn't it? We can't have people really knowing how… vulnerable… you are. If that happened, they might hurt you. Isn't that right?" Shadow Heather reached over onto the tray held up by the faceless servant. She picked up a jelly bombe and bit into it, the jelly inside spilling on to her lip like thick blood. She licked it up with an elegant tongue.

"That's… not true…" Heather insisted, desperately trying to convince herself. "It can't be true! That's not really who I am! I-is it…?"

Thorne stepped closer to Heather. "Don't let it get to you…" he said in a low, concerned tone, his temple strained and pulling his skin tight.

"It is true, and you know it, Heather." Now, the Shadow had given up on her polite hostess persona, now speaking with forceful sharpness. "I am you, and you are me. You know me to be your true self. Why? Because your true self is hidden behind so many different masks that it's practically a lost cause. There is no 'real' you, is there? Only what people want to see in you. And that's exactly what you give them, without hesitation. You lie to yourself and say you're just pleasing say it's good for you. You say it will get you far. But are you really acting if there's no reality to return to?"

"Shut up!" Heather shrieked, her nails dug deep enough into her palms to draw beads of blood. "Shut up!" she cried again, her hairline sweaty and her eyes shut tight against not-yet-falling tears. "Fine, I get it! You're right! I'm constantly escaping myself by putting on new masks! You're right! I get it!" Suddenly, a dark black essence balled up in front of her. It permeated her senses and she opened her eyes, letting the tears drip from them as she looked into the ball of impossibly black smoke. She held out her hand to it, as if possessed by some force. Once it made contact with her palm, it grew, extending. A sleek, curved surface ripped out from the smoke, at the same time as a glossy black handle. It grew into a large black crossbow! Once the weapon had formed, the black ball of smoke jumped up into a hole in the bend, where it manifested into a black keychain shaped like a sitting cat's silhouette.

She held the weapon tightly in both her palms, pressing it against her chest, feeling it to know if it was real or an illusion. "I'm going to shatter every last mask I hide behind…" she growled, her lips pulled into a furious sneer. "Starting with you!" She pointed the already-loaded crossbow right at the Shadow!

Shadow Heather's True Shadow Form writhed, porcelain horns growing out from its mask. Its beautiful cocktail dress changed before Thorne and Heather's very eyes, transforming into a stark red straitjacket attached to a billowing princess skirt. The straitjacket's belts were a glossy fuchsia, with gold thread trimmings and bejeweled buckles. The Shadow's teeth grew sharper until they were pricking her own red lips, tainting them purple from the Shadow's blue blood. The Shadow's beautiful, shiny, straight black hair formed a hovering halo around her small waist.

"It's such a shame you would defy me. I am your dagger against those who have hurt you." Shadow Heather, in her True Shadow Form, had a downright demonic voice as it spoke.

Heather 's brow furrowed intensely.

Thorne nodded. "It's alright, I believe you. Either way, you're my friend, and I still want to protect you." He unholstered his pistol, and Hamlet came to life behind his shoulder. "Now," smiled Thorne, preparing for battle, "are you going to kill your other self once and for all?"

"Yes sir!" Heather nodded back, determined. With that, she bounded forward, making the first powerful blaster from her crossbow at the falsehood foe!

The battle had officially begun! The audience gasped as the ball's hostess was threatened, but none of them dared defy her and step onto the battlefield.

"Heather, Heather, Heather…" the Shadow growled… "You've desperately grasped at popularity all your life… and I gave it to you… and you would kill me just like that?"

"Popularity is not what I want!" Heather resolved. "I want to be myself! I'm done pleasing others! I never want to be seen like you again!" Heather loaded another bolt into her crossbow, and fired it again! The bolt pierced right into True Shadow Heather's chest! The Shadow shrieked in pain, yet didn't fall!

Thorne took his turn! "Persona!" he called! However, Hamlet did not appear. Instead, the Persona that appeared was the one he had forcibly recruited in the Yomotsu Sector of the PsykoWeb; Excalibur!

"I will hereby fight by your side, as your proud identity," Excalibur proclaimed. The sword slashed the air in front of it, sending flaming arcs towards True Shadow Heather in its wake!

Seven joined in to create a Chain Attack! He summoned Brutus, who dashed over to True Shadow Heather, and slashed many times into her chest!

The True Shadow was trapped by her own very form. Her arms were trapped inside the straitjacket that had become of her dress. However, she could still summon magic! The True Shadow's long hair blew behind her as she created a strong gust of wind in front of her, and blasted it at Thorne!

Thorne was hit! He fell onto his ass from the impact, but got back up quickly! He looked around the ballroom… how could he execute a plan to give his teammates the advantage…

Meanwhile, True Shadow Heather launched a similar attack at Heather, who had no Persona to defend herself with! She was knocked down, but not before launching another bolt into her Shadow Self!

That was it! The chandelier! Shadow Heather was standing right underneath the chandelier…! If he could get it to fall somehow, it would inflict major damage on her! He looked around the room, attempting to formulate a spy-like plan.

A microphone extended from his ear, and he spoke into it. "Heather, attack the chandelier above your Shadow! But make it look like it was an accident so she doesn't catch on!"

Heather received the message loud and clear from an earpiece which had appeared over her own ear. She turned to Thorne, and have a confident nod and a thumbs-up! She aimed at True Shadow Heather's face, but she intentionally slipped her crossbow upward at the last second! The bolt flew through the air, easily piercing through the chains holding up the chandelier! It was evident that the chains had dwindled ever slightly from the attack.

"Seven," Thorne instructed, "do the same!"

Seven saluted Thorne, and executed a similar maneuver! He activated a laser reticle, pointing it into True Shadow Heather's chest! However, instead he fired at the chandelier, blasting the chains with Nuclear energy! The chains creaked as the Nuclear energy eroded at the metal.

"Not such sharp-shooters now, are you?" the True Shadow sneered. "Take this!" She cut through Seven with a blade made of clear crystal! Seven was knocked down!

Heather loaded a bolt into her crossbow again, but didn't fire it immediately! She ran up closer to her Shadow! He jumped up onto the True Shadow's shoulder, then used the momentum to launch herself into the air! From in the air, she fired the bolt right into the Shadow's eye, right through the mask!

Shadow Heather screamed in pain! "How dare you attack me! I've given you everything you have!" As soon as heather landed, another wind attack blasted out from Shadow Heather's body! Heather was sent flying! She landed skillfully on her feet, yet the damage she'd taken could still be felt.

"Ah…" Heather groaned, finding it difficult to get back to her feet.

Thorne took the opportunity to shoot multiple bullets up at the chandelier! They each hit, and it was just enough to make the gigantic chandelier plummet to the ground!

The huge fixture slammed down right on top of Shadow Heather, causing her great damage, and causing her to scream loudly!

However, she did not fall, even with the immense weight of the chandelier having fallen on top of her! She launched an attack that sent shock waves through the ground, hitting Thorne, Seven, and Heather altogether!

Thorne could see Heather struggling to get back up to her feet. That's when he remembered the item he had picked up! He used the power of the Life Stone on Heather! She immediately looked in much better condition.

"Wow," she grinned. "Feels great! I owe you one!"

She loaded up her crossbow, prepared to take out her Shadow once and for all!

The True Shadow fired another attack at her! She fired the bolt into the magical projectile, causing it to dissipate before hitting her! Thorne shot multiple bullets into True Shadow Heather! Seven also fired a rapid-fire of Nuclear blasts at her!

She released another explosion of forceful wind that knocked all three of them over! However, Heather got up first, and launched a bolt right into her Shadow's heart!

An intense light cut through the Shadow, blinding the onlookers.

When the light was gone, the Shadow had returned to her previous form. She weakly held herself up on her knees where her elegant dress was now torn. She spat out blue blood, creating a pool of navy on the floor.

Thorne stepped forward to deliver the finishing blow. However, Seven put an arm out in front of him, preventing him from going forward.

The Shadow looked up with fear at the real Heather, who stood over her, holding her crossbow confidently.

"P-please… have mercy… I'm just a girl…" Shadow Heather whimpered, tears welling in her made-up eyes which turned silver as they washed away the Shadow's glittery eyeshadow. "I'm just as much a victim as you… since, well, we're one… See? I'm trapped by my own need to please others… as are you…"

Heather groaned. "Oh my GOD! Please! Shut up already! You just keep blabbering on!" Heather gripped her crossbow, loading it in preparation it.

"Oh god! Please!" The Shadow covered her head, sacrificing her grip on the ground before her as she ducked in fear.

As soon as Heather's bolt dug into the Shadow's head, it turned to a wisp of bright cyan computer code.

It rematerialized again, this time taking the form of something much different.

"My dear, you have done well to find your true self under the myriad masks you've adopted," the new figure claimed, its feminine voice clear and song-like. "Finally, you have awakened to the power within yourself. The power to face the truth and summon a Persona."

Heather gazed in awe at the ghost-like figure before her. It looked so similar to her Shadow, yet also very different.

One by one, the Roles playing the masquerade's guests faded into mist and code. The fallen chandelier also disappeared.

"I am Madam Madcap," explained the beautiful woman's figure. She wore a beautiful golden masquerade mask. Feather's ruffled from the right side, and a chain entwined with jewels dangled from the left side. It fit her face beautifully. Her hair was black, shiny, and as wavy as a cascade. "More importantly, I am thou, and thou art I. From here on forward, I will represent you as your other self; your Persona. Continue searching for your truth, no matter what sacrifices you must make, my dear. For being your own true self if life's greatest treasure."

"Wow…" Heather looked on in awe. "I… I can use a Persona too?" She held the handle of her crossbow a little more confidently. She bowed her head toward Madam Madcap, who bowed her head toward Heather. Madam Madcap faded, and filled Heather's heart.

Suddenly, Heather's outfit changed before her very eyes. Her outfit was now a skin-tight suit full of belts and clips, including a utility belt, the cargo of which rested against her hip, expanding upon her silhouette. Along with that, she now wore a cropped deep-red leather jacket, with full-length sleeves. She now even wore a fancy, sleek modernized tricorne hat that matched her cropped jacket.

_Damn_… Thorne thought, mouth hanging open. _That's a really great look for her. _He shook his head.

Heather modeled her new outfit for a few moments, before grinning and saying, "I'm a spy now too, Thorne! See? I look so cool!"

"What's your Agent name gonna be?" Thorne asked.

"You look like a morally-gray cartoon character," Seven commented.

"Hm…" Heather pondered. "Well, Noir is probably taken by now…"

"How about Agent Belle?" suggested Thorne.

"Huh?" Heather asked. She looked over her outfit again. "I don't see it."

"Well, you're quite beautiful," Thorne noted.

Heather's face immediately went full red. "We can think about that later! Ahem!" She took a breath, recomposing herself. "In the mean time, we should celebrate."

"I can tell this is gonna be an expensive friendship," Thorne joked. "Ooh, actually, someone showed me a great cupcake place."

"Ooh!" Heather sounded enticed. The two Persona-wielding spies began their journey out of the strange ball room, chatting excitedly about that week's happenings and their plans for celebration as they descended the red-carpeted stairs and returned to reality.

REVIEW QUESTION: What would you like to see more of during the intermission between Episode 1 and Episode 2? Any Social Links you would like to see Thorne hang out with? Would you like to see more PsykoWeb exploration? I'm open to all suggestions!


	18. 1 - The First Truth - Epidose End

Sep. 9, Sweet Dreams, Vancouver; After School

"Hello there!" greeted the attendant. "What can I get for you two?"

Heather's eyes widened at the stunning selection of artfully-decorated cupcakes. She put her fingers to her chin. "I-I can't choose…!" she gasped.

Thorne chuckled. "Um, can I get one Midnight Mint?"

"Sure thing!" the familiar icing-smeared woman smiled. "You came here… yesterday, was it?"

"Mhm," Thorne nodded. "It was so good, I wanted to come back."

"I'm eternally grateful to hear that!" the woman sighed, wiping sweat from her forehead. "My name's Rosetta. I'm the owner of this little place."

"I see," Thorne noted.

Heather chimed in, "I don't see any other people… are you working on your own?"

"Yeah," Rosetta sighed. "We don't get a lot of business, so I can't afford to hire employees. There was one, but they went back to school."

"Oh," Heather sounded. "I… I'm sorry. You look like you're a super busy woman."

"Heh," chuckled Rosetta through her nostrils. "Yeah. The quality of my products is really important to me, so I have very high standards for every single cupcake I decorate."

"That's sweet," Thorne commented. "It really shows. All the cupcakes are mouth-watering. And the one I had yesterday was delicious."

"Oh, thank you," Rosetta blushed. "Um, ma'am, do you know what you'd like to order?"

"Oh gosh," Heather stuttered. "Uh, I'll get a… uh… C-Coffee and Cream?"

"Coming right up!" smiled Rosetta.

Thorne had forged a special link with Rosetta: The High Priestess. Symbolizing passivity, stagnancy, and the act of uncovering illusions, Rosetta's unconventional approach to business would bring Thorne to question whether things always have to be the way that they are.

Thorne and Heather received their cupcakes from Rosetta and paid for them. They sat down together at one of the booths. There was no one else in the store except them and Rosetta.

"It's been quite the past few weeks, huh?" Heather joked.

"I can hardly believe it all actually happened. It feels like fantasy," Thorne chuckled. "But we made it through! How do you feel?"

"I feel good," grinned Heather. "I have something I have to do later."

"Oh?"

"You'll see," nodded Heather. She bit into her cupcake. "Wow…" Her eyes widened. "It's so creamy, oh my god."

Rosetta grinned. "You like it?" She walked over to their table.

"Oh yes," Heather answered with passion. "Wow, that's good."

"It would help a lot if you guys could tell some people about this place," Rosetta explained. "Though, there's no pressure. You're always welcome to come in for some 'cakes!"

"I'll surely take you up on that offer," Thorne commented.

"Good!" Rosetta smiled.

A ding rang through the bakery.

"Oh, that's the oven!" noted Rosetta. She fixed the tie on her apron, then returned to the kitchen.

"She's sweet," Heather said.

Thorne nodded.

"I wish I could taste such aesthetically-pleasing food items," Seven spoke up.

Heather and Thorne jumped, not expecting to hear Seven's voice.

"I'm… sorry…?" Heather said in a questioning tone.

"Alas, there is nothing that can be done," Seven said blankly. "Heather, would you like to join us in investigating PsykoWeb?" he offered.

"What's that?" she asked.

Seven explained.

"Oh, huh…" pondered Heather. "So, it's like… the Headquarters of everyone at once?"

"Essentially," Seven confirmed.

"Uh… now?" Heather questioned. "I'm… kinda tired."

"Me too," Thorne sighed.

"Oh, not right this moment," Seven confirmed.

"Well, uh, sure." Heather gave a thumbs-up. "I have a Persona now, so I should be of more help to you guys."

"Awesome," Thorne grinned.

Heather had officially joined Thorne's team as a member of the party.

Sep. 9, Heather Holland's Residence, King Junior Ave., Vancouver; Mid-Evening

Heather cuddled up with her Kitty Noir plush toy. There was a large bowl of chips on the bed next to her, and her bedroom T.V. was playing an adorable-looking animated show about Kitty Noir. She photographed the event, and posted it online for everyone to see.

It wasn't long before comments started rolling in.

"Heather, this isn't like you," Leone commented on the post.

"Actually," Heather replied back, "this is exactly like me."

"Oh, before I forget," Heather said to herself.

She picked her phone back up and went to the group chat she was in with Leone, Maggie, Sam, Celeste, and Rosanna. When she put her phone back down, the screen showed, in large letters; 'Heather Holland has left this chat room'.


	19. Int 1 - Meeting the Mayor, Meeting Death

Sep. 10, Thorne Blackwood's Residence, Charles St., Vancouver; After School

Thorne finally had some free time to do something of his own volition, without being dragged around by school, the pressing mystery of Heather's Masquerade, or Seven's suggestions for exploration. He had a cup of tea steeping. He took a whiff of the subtly spiced scent. How would he spend a Thursday after school? There were a surprising amount of options. He could go shopping, or for a walk, or he could get a bite to eat, or he could just laze at home.

Suddenly, he got a message. "Hey Thorne." It was from Heather.

"What's up?" he asked.

She texted, "I just got money forwarded to my account. There's no sender, though."

Thorne checked his account using his phone. The same had happened to him. He thought back to himself…

He remembered Commander saying "Your first mission, Agent. Complete it, and I will compensate you with money."

He didn't expect Commander to also compensate Heather…

"It's a long story…" texted Thorne. "But don't worry about it. You know how we're spies?"

"Yeah?" Heather responded.

"We completed a mission," Thorne explained. "This is our payout. It's from… some guy."

"I'll trust you on that. At least it's going into my account, not out, right?" she joked.

Thorne's tea was ready! He removed the tea bag and waited for the water to cool a bit. The steam warmed his nostrils. He sniffled. The end-of-summer beginning-of-fall weather change always seemed to make him stuffy. In the warmer weather of Vancouver, it seemed to hit him even harder.

So… what would he do…? He had extra money now… He sipped his tea while thinking. His homework was already complete… so now he had plenty of free time. Perhaps he should hang out with somebody.

Just then, he got a text message from someone who hadn't texted him before.

"Bonjour," the message read. "C'est Marc, from school."

"Hey," responded Thorne. "What's up?"

"Would you like to join me for a walk?" Marc offered.

"A… walk?" inquired Thorne.

"Oui," confirmed Marc. "At the park. I want to talk with you."

"Is something wrong?"

"Not at all," Marc answered. "I simply wish to speak with my friend."

"Oh, okay, cool. Where do you want to meet?"

"Do you know where the forest trail is?" Marc asked.

"Yeah, I know where that is," answered Thorne. "Let's meet there, then."

Sep. 10, Forest Trail, Vancouver; After School

"Ah, there you are." Thorne waved as he saw Marc coming up to the trail.

"Bonjour!" Marc waved back. "How are you this afternoon, my friend?"

"I'm good," nodded Thorne. "But a bit hungry, to be honest," he chuckled. "And you?"

"I'm well," Marc smiled. He fixed his styled brunette hair and removed his sunglasses, the shade from the forest trail's trees replacing them. "Shall we?" he offered, gesturing towards the mouth of the forest.

"Let's," agreed Thorne. The two of them walked into the shaded forest.

A few moments passed.

"So, what did you want to talk about?" asked Thorne.

"Oh, yes, that. Well, I've noticed you're a very insightful person, mon amie. I feel that talking to you helps me come closer to my truth."

"Wow, uh," Thorne stuttered. "Thanks. That's… an honour…?"

"Indeed. Do you enjoy walking through nature?"

Thorne thought for a moment. Who doesn't like walking through nature? Well, alternatively, it wasn't his favourite thing. He didn't even have wi-fi out here…

"Yeah, I guess," he responded.

"Me too!" grinned Marc. "The nature in Canada is much different from in Europe, you know?"

Thorne looked at Marc. "Is that so?"

"Indeed! Yet, it's so similar, too. You see, European cities are dense and full. There is rarely large areas of untouched forest in the middle of a town like this."

"I see… Yeah, I've noticed that," nodded Thorne thoughtfully.

"You've been to Europe?" Marc asked, slightly perking.

"Well, uh, no," Thorne ducked, rubbing the back of his neck. "But I've seen lots of pictures."

"I see," Marc said. "I have really been enjoying Canada so far," he nodded with a smile. "The people are so kind and accommodating… usually."

Thorne laughed. "Yeah, the big cities are bound to be full of cynical people, huh? Oh, hey, uh, you're an exchange student, so where are you staying outside of school?"

"Actually," explained Marc, "my school back in France is paying for a hotel room for me."

Thorne's face lit up. "A hotel room? A school can really afford that?"

"Well, it's a private school," Marc blushed. "And even then, they say it's a hotel room, but it's really not much."

"Huh…" pondered Thorne. "It's good to know you have a good place to stay while you're here. Are you here all year?"

"Oui," nodded Marc. "I'll be going back to France in December, but after that I'll be staying here until June."

"So, uh, can you text to Canada from France?" Thorne asked.

Marc thought for a bit. "It might get expensive… Perhaps if I have more people in Canada to talk to, I'll make the investment."

Thorne grinned. "I hope you will. You're a cool guy."

"Thank you. Oh, actually, I had a question."

"A homework question?" Thorne joked.

"Well, partly," admitted Marc. "However, it's mostly to satisfy my own curiosity. Here's my question: Do you believe that it's possible for anyone to fully express their true self?"

Thorne licked his lips as he thought.

"After all," Marc went on, "even if we try to be honest with ourselves, there is always subconscious pressure to appeal to what others will agree with. That's society itself, non? If our identities are shaped by our interactions with others, what does it mean to be truly authentic to yourself?"

"Wow, uh…" Thorne's jaw hung open. "Well… I guess… my opinion… is that…" He shook his head, attempting to rattle the words in his mind into a sensible order. "I guess, expressing your true self… is about… accepting how… Yeah, I can't answer that."

"Oh, sorry," apologized Marc. "To be truthful, I can't either… I was hoping you could help me form an answer."

"I don't remember seeing that question on the homework," chuckled Thorne.

"Well, I was inspired by this morning's lecture about human identity," Marc explained.

The two of them continued to chat until they came out the forest trail on the other side. Thorne felt much closer to Marc afterward.

Sep. 11, Gymnasium, Goldhelm Secondary School, Vancouver; Class Time

As Thorne's long Social Psychology class came to its end, a somewhat unexcited-sounding voice rang out from the speakers in the walls. "Would students now please make their way to the Gymnasium for an assembly."

"I knew this was gonna happen, but I still hardly wanna go," groaned one of the ambiguous students in Thorne's class.

Ms. Berot instructed, "Please be respectful as you walk tp the Gym."

Of course, the hallways exploded with cacophonous chatter as soon as students made their way through the classroom doors.

Thorne found Heather was already seated in the crowd. He sat down next to her. "Hey," he greeted.

"Hey," she smiled back. "You know what this assembly is supposed to be about?"

"Not a clue," Thorne admitted. "How are you?"

"I'm feeling good," she smiled. "I couldn't wait to see you at lunchtime, but I guess this will do," she joked.

Thorne smiled. "Aw, really?"

"It's you and me against the world," Heather joked again. "Rumours about PsykoNet are really spreading, huh?"

"Yeah, it's like it's all anyone is talking about these days," Thorne nodded.

Just then, his hypothesis was supported as someone nearby laughed with their friend. "So, what would my Shadow be, do you think?"

"You?" the friend replied. They snuffed, preparing to roast the guy. "Probably a bug."

"What?" the friend gasped, offended. "Why?"

"'Cause you're always trying to feed off dead trends."

Heather sighed. "This could be an issue… What if people trace it back to us?"

"I doubt that's likely," Thorne reassured. "We just have to be careful of what we say."

"What if someone uses PsykoNet for something bad?" she asked, starting to sound worried. "With every talking about it, how would anyone know who it was?"

"How would you even use PsykoNet for something bad?" Thorne chuckled. "Like, really."

"I guess…" Heather sighed. "Maybe I'm worrying too much…"

"I think you might be," Thorne nodded. "Just relax. We don't have to worry about going back in there anymore, anyway. Right? Your Shadow is gone now, and that's all we were worried about up 'til now."

"Yeah, you're right." Heather's mouth turned up in a smile. "I guess we should just play along and pretend it's an A.R.G. thing like everyone else."

"Yes, perfect plan."

The feature presenter walked up onto the stage, organizing their script notes on the pedestal in front of them. "Good morning, students of Goldhelm Secondary. My name is Jackson Conowell. Yes, the Mayor Jackson Conowell."

"What's the mayor doing here?" one of the students seated near Thorne and Heather whispered.

"I've always been a strong advocate of putting good education as a top priority," Mayor Conowell explained. "So, now that I've been the Mayor of the great city of Vancouver for about eight months now, I've finally put into action a funding plan which prioritizes students in the school system. I'm here to personally tell you students how this plan will benefit you, and how you can take advantage of it. Starting today, the school has been given public transit passes to give to every single student. These public transit passes are effective for use on buses, and even the iconic Vancouver skytrain system. They will expire in three months, meaning in November. However, you will all be eligible to receive new ones after the three month period, if you so wish. My hope is that this will allow students more opportunities to experience the real world that they're going to be entering into after graduation. I believe that it's important to give young, developing minds the opportunity to access a multitude of unique experiences. It is my belief that experienced youth becoming outstanding adults. And, it is my hope that you will see things the same way."

"Wow, that's pretty rad," Heather commented, whispering to Thorne.

Thorne nodded in response. It was pretty 'rad'.

Mayor Conowell went on to explain a few other ways in which the school was being supplied with funding, but by then most of the students had zoned out. He finished with a promise; "I will be meeting with the Student Leadership Committee during lunch hour in order to answer questions and hear suggestions. All students are welcome to speak with me."

Sep. 11, Student Leadership Committee Meeting Room, Goldhelm; Lunchtime

Thorne and Heather walked into the Student Leadership Committee meeting room to find, indeed, that Mayor Conowell was speaking directly with students. He seemed very interested in what the students had to say. It didn't look at all like he was acting.

One shy student, a girl wearing a skirt and a white dress shirt, approached him shyly. "M-Mr. Mayor," she stuttered. "I have a… a few questions."

"I'd be happy to answer them," smiled Conowell. "Ask away."

"I'm currently managing a-a blog, and I…" the girl stammered.

"Please," insisted the Mayor, "I'm nobody you need to fear. Think of me as just any other person, if it helps."

The girl cleared her throat. "Well, um, Mr. Mayor, I'm running a personal blog, and I want to hear your opinion on certain things."

Heather and Thorne stood back, observing.

"Well, please, ask!" encouraged Conowell.

"My first question is, what is your opinion on the evident need for a new school to be built in the growing area surrounding Goldhelm?" the girl asked, sounding much more confident.

"Well, I'd be lying to say I haven't been thinking about it often," admitted Conowell. "I've been working with the school district to determine the best course of action. But there's a lot of information needed before we can simply build a new school. We need to know the sizes of the different grade ranges, the ability for students to commute to a new school in a different location, how traffic would be affected… and on top of that, there are a lot of businesses and residences in this area. Suffice to say, there isn't enough space in this district of the city for a brand-new school. We'd need to make substantial changes to the existing community in order to fit a new school. So, I've been working with many people just to find out what the best course of action is. Though I'm aware that Goldhelm isn't large enough on its own to handle the growing student population; believe me, I am."

The girl scratched notes down onto her notebook. "Thank you, sir. Um, my next question: What encouraged you to open free public transportation to the student population?"

"Well, I think I described that in the assembly, but I'll reiterate," nodded the Mayor. "I'm a father myself, to two children. One of them is no longer in public school, but the other one is. And I guess that helped me to see how other students react to the school setting. I've always been critical of the school system, and cutting the school district's budget won't solve any of the issues that need to be addressed. So, I decided that we need to invest in the students themselves. We need to give them the ability to access the situations that they must face once graduating. Like, for example, using the public transit systems to get to locations, and exploring career options. That was what inspired me to make the decision to make access to public transit services free for students in the public school system."

"Thank you," the girl nodded. "That is all."

"May I have your name, miss?" Conowell asked.

"M-My name?" she gasped. "Why?"

"It's very brave of you to speak with me directly," the Mayor smiled. "If I know you're name, then I'm closer to knowing you personally."

"M-My name is Gena…" the girl stuttered. "Gena Jackson."

Conowell chuckled. "What a coincidence, your last name is my first name."

Thorne smiled. He recognized the girl who had been talking to the Mayor. She was one of the models of the paintings in Shadow Heather's gallery. He turned to Heather. Heather looked somewhat upset upon recognizing her.

"Hey, it's Thorne," someone noted. Thorne turned to face the person who had called his name. It was Sara. "What are you doing here in the Student Leadership room?"

"Uh, just… watching the Mayor," Thorne answered. "I'm his biggest fan, you know," he joked.

Sara chuckled. "You didn't strike me as a political person."

"Trust me, I'm not," responded Thorne. "But it's a good opportunity, no?"

"Yeah, for sure. Are you gonna speak with him?" Sara asked.

"I might as well," Thorne shrugged.

Suddenly, Sara pushed Thorne right into Conowell's path. He stumbled forward, knocking Gena over by accident with his momentum. He gasped, and gave Gena an apologetic look.

"It's fine," she sighed, grabbing her notebook. "I'm used to it by now." She pulled her notebook into her chest and left the room, not storming but certainly walking heavier than normal.

"Oh my…" Conowell watched as Gena left the room. He cleared his throat. "Um, is there anything you'd like to say to me, young sir?"

Thorne put his hand out. The Mayor linked his hand with Thorne's, and they shook hands.

"Huh," Conowell gave a comical half-grin. "A handshake can certainly say a lot, can't it? I don't usually get handshakes unless it's from representatives. It's good to meet you. What's your name?"

"Thorne Blackwood," Thorne answered.

"Thorne Blackwood? Wow, talk about cool names," chuckled Conowell. "Do you have any questions for me? I'd be happy to answer."

Thorne had forged a special link with Mayor Conowell, of all people: Death. Symbolizing self-awareness, and endings, Mayor Conowell's determination to serve the people would teach Thorne to fight for his own beliefs, and to reach for his goals.

"Well," Thorne asked, pulling a random question straight out of his ass, "uh, what do you think of the impact of technology on the experience of a student?"

"Hm… that's a good question…" Conowell thought for a short moment. "I think it can be both a great benefit to a student's school experience, but also a powerful negative influence. I think I can trust students enough to realize the impact of technology on themselves, though. I hope I can, at least."

"Thanks, sir," Thorne nodded. He and Heather went off to enjoy their lunchtime together.


	20. Int 1 - Yet Another Android

Friday, Sep. 11, Room 050 (Mrs. Weller's Room), Goldhelm Secondary School, Vancouver; After Class

"So, it's the first Friday of the school year," Heather reminded Thorne. "So, what're we gonna do today?"

"I totally forgot it was Friday," Thorne chuckled. He thought about his options… "Wanna go shopping?"

"Ooh yeah, totally! The mall?" suggested Heather.

"Sure," Thorne smiled with a nod.

Friday, Sep. 11, Lavendera Mall, Vancouver; After School

"Mm, it's nice to hang out with you without having to worry about people's opinions," Heather smiled.

"If you say so," Thorne said, rolling his eyes a bit. "I want coffee."

"Sure," Heather smiled. "There's a Dollar Star at the food court."

Thorne walked up to the counter of said Dollar Star after following Heather to the kiosk.

"What can I get for you?" asked the barista. It was a young-ish man with short hair and glasses, and an ironic handlebar moustache. He certainly fit into the role of his job.

"Can I get a vanilla mocha?" Thorne asked, preparing his card.

"Coming right up! Can I get a name?" the barista asked.

"Huh?" Thorne asked, having lost his attention staring at the guy's face. "Uh, Thorne."

"Thorne?" the barista chuckled. "Wow, cool name."

"I get that a lot," blushed Thorne.

"Is there an 'e' in there?"

"Uh, yeah, at the end," Thorne chuckled.

Heather giggled and approached the counter. "I'll have a pumpkin spice latte made with black tea."

"Getting in the spirit of the season?" the barista asked. "Sure, one pumpkin spice latte with black tea. That'll be ready in a few minutes. Name?"

"Heather," she answered.

"Gotcha," nodded the barista.

The two received their drinks faster than either of them expected. They both sat down at a table. "Is Thorne crushing on a Dollar Star barista?" Heather asked cheekily.

"What? No," denied Thorne. "Don't jump to conclusions."

"It did appear that you lost focus while interacting with that man," Seven added.

"Oh you shut up," Thorne groaned. He took a sip of his mocha. "So, do we want to stop anywhere?"

"We'll see. I'm kinda hungry," Heather sighed.

"Have you been eating enough?" Thorne asked, concerned.

"Relax, Thorny, I ate at lunch," Heather chuckled. "But I'm craving… noodles."

"Noodles sound great. But I don't know if there's anywhere near here where we can get any."

"Would you like to enter PsykoWeb, Agent Belle?" Seven asked.

"What? We never agreed on that name!" Heather snarled, flustered. "Anyway… sure, I guess… I've got a few hours before I need to be home for dinner."

"Oh," Thorne sounded. "I guess we're going. Let's find a spot where we won't get seen teleporting."

Friday, Sep. 11, Yomotsu Sector, PsykoWeb; After School

"That was trippy…" Heather shook her head. "I think I'm getting more used to it, though."

"You look good," Thorne said with a smile at the leather-jacket detective.

"I'm flattered," she replied sarcastically. "So, this is PsykoWeb? It looks… remarkably like a regular Vancouver street… except the sky's a weird blue, and… what the fuck is that?"

Seven stepped in to explain, "We have deduced that the gargantuan object casting its shadow over this sector of PsykoWeb is a replication of the Yomotsu Hirasaka arch found in real-world Japan."

"Oh, cool, I've heard of that. It's a big plot point in this anime I like," Heather grinned.

"You like anime?" Thorne asked, a bit taken aback.

"Yeah, got a problem?"

"N-no," he insisted. "We've made it our primary goal to reach the arch itself."

"Doesn't sound too hard," Heather nodded. "It looks like a long walk, though… is this really to-scale with real life?"

"As far as we can discern," Seven nodded.

"Just great…"

They walked onward, attempting to navigate the labyrinth of city streets.

"You know," Heather commented, "for a replication of Vancouver… I feel like my Headquarters had more people in it."

"You're right," noted Thorne. "Huh?"

They came upon a huge wall. It wasn't like any regular wall they were familiar with, though. There was a row of road signs laid out in front of them, but past it was a bizarre monolith that looked like a magical border of existence itself. Seven scanned it, a scanning red light coming from his digital eye.

"It appears that this is the border of the Yomotsu Sector," he explained.

"It's like a forcefield," Thorne said with awe.

"It looks thoroughly impassible," Seven explained. "Should we turn back, Leader? Perhaps there is a different route we could take."

Heather squinted her eyes. "For some reason, I get the feeling that there's something on the other side…"

"Me too," added Thorne. "Maybe it will reveal itself to us soon… Oh hey, look over there, we can walk down that alley."

After walking for a longer period of time, they felt even closer to the Yomotsu Hirasaka arch… It looked closer, too.

"What do you think will be at the arch?" Heather asked, still walking.

"I have no clue," Thorne admitted. "I'm guessing… maybe some kind of Shadow?"

"I hope we're prepared, if that's the case," Heather sighed. Her crossbow was attached to her back.

A robotic sound beeped behind Thorne and Heather.

"Was that you, Seven?" Heather giggled. "What does that noise mean?"

"That sound was not of my doing," Seven answered matter-of-factly.

"Huh?" Heather gasped. She turned around, along with Thorne and Seven. However, there was nothing there.

The robotic sound happened again.

"Where is it coming from?" Heather asked, sounding a bit frustrated. "Show yourself!"

Just then, a non-discreet red dot appeared on the ground between all three of them. A sphere of energy crashed into the ground! Thankfully, all three of the Persona users were able to jump out of the way in time.

An Android appeared before them, almost identical to Seven, although this one had broader shoulders and details in dark green.

"Who are you and what do you want?" Thorne asked, stepping up bravely.

"I am Android 11," the Android answered. "I have been ordered to eliminate you, and Android 07. I was not told there would be a girl with you, but my orders extend to her as well." There was a click sound, and suddenly there were two cannons that appeared on the Android's shoulders. It charged them with flaming energy.

"Who's given you these orders?" Thorne asked.

"I will not reveal that information to a nosy young brat the likes of you," the Android snarled. "Your fate has been sealed."

Heather stepped up, sighing sarcastically. "I guess this is gonna be my first battle with my Persona. I would've preferred a more dramatic opponent."

Thorne smirked, chuckling. "I believe in you, Heather! Show them your bravery!" Hamlet appeared behind him, the Heir of Denmark's long coat fluttering in the wind he created himself.

Brutus appeared behind Seven, posed in a position ripe for battle!

Madam Madcap materialized behind Heather's shoulders, her fancy dress swaying elegantly. The Persona opened her mask-shaded eyes and glared at Android 11 as if to say 'How dare you oppose my other self?'.

"Heather, take the first move!" Thorne offered.

"Gladly!" she shouted back. "Persona!"

Madam Madcap summoned a cutting wind that Android 11 had to steel itself for to avoid being blown away! On top of the intense glistening razor wind, huge bullets formed from the cutting gust, which danced through the air and made impact with Android 11! The Android was knocked down, weakened by the wind attack! But as it was falling down, it fired its cannons! It shot two huge orbs of pure fire right at Thorne!

He was well prepared, though. "Counter!" he ordered. Hamlet jumped out in front of him and slashed the flames with his rapier, sending them right back to Android 11!

It was Seven's turn next! The allied Android charged up his own cannon, and fired a gatling of Nuclear energy at Android 11.

Heather rushed forward and tied up Android 11 using a rope that materialized in her very hand. Her elegant movement made it look as if she was creating a painting while she was really binding the enemy. The world around her transformed into the familiar interrogation room.

She sat up on the table, tapping her fingers against her bent knee. "Tell me, who is your master?"

"I will not divulge such information to you." Android 11 remained persistent.

Heather loaded her crossbow as nonchalantly as if she were checking her fingernails. "If you tell us, this will be much easier for you."

"I have specific orders. I will not disobey them."

"That's fine then." Heather sighed, and slid off of the table. She walked around to the other side of Android 11 and put her hand on its weaponized shoulder. She leaned in and whispered, "Your non-cooperation makes this even more fun."

She pressed the tip of her crossbow up to the Android's head.

"You know, it's not too late to tell me," she reassured.

"I know," Android 11 snarled. "Do it, then."

Android 11 fell to the ground after having a crossbow bolt shot through its head. However, it didn't appear to be down yet! It quickly got back up and the interrogation room faded away!

The restraints on the Android disappeared along with the interrogation room! Android 11 immediately took its opportunity to retaliate! "Take this, foolish human!" it snarled as it launched an intense flame at Heather!

Heather attempted to dodge the flame! However, she couldn't jump out of the way in time! The intensity of the blast knocked her back! "Heather!" Thorne called. "Hang in there! That looked like a strong hit…" He clenched his teeth with worry.

Heather got back up to her feet. "It was..." she coughed, "uh, nothing. I'll be fine. Keep your focus, Agent Rose!"

Thorne nodded to Heather, and summoned Hamlet. "Persona!"

Hamlet appeared, stylish as ever. He brandished his rapier and held it in front of him. He dashed over to Android 11, and prepared for a powerful slash! "Whether 'tis nobler to suffer, friend?" the Persona asked starkly. He released all of the power he had built up into a powerful, ice-coated slash which pierced Android 11!

"Madam Madcap, come to me!" Heather called.

"I am at your surface, my young beauty," her Persona responded, materializing behind her. Madcap put her hand up to her mask and a gust of cutting wind blew from behind her! The wind spiraled around Android 11 in a tornado, cutting into the A.I. like tiny throwing knives!

"Persona!" Seven called, summoning Brutus. Brutus appeared silently behind Seven's shoulder. "Heal Heather's wound."

Brutus turned to face Heather and put his hands together, as if to pray. A pink aura came to glow around Heather's body. She felt refreshed as the glowing aura rejuvenated her energy and reduced her pain.

"Wow, thanks, Seven," she sighed in relief. "I owe you one!"

"It is my duty as an Android to protect PsykoNet users," Seven recited.

Thorne chimed in, "It seems like you and Android 11 have very different duties as Androids."

Android 11 went to attack Thorne! It rushed towards Thorne, preparing to dig its metal fist deep into the teen's skull! However, Thorne used his Persona's Counter ability in perfect timing! "Excalibur, Counter!"

Excalibur bursted out from Thorne's chest and slashed Android 11 just as it left an opening as it was raring to land its steel punch! Excalibur followed up the Counter attack by creating multiple balls of dark energy, and volleying them into Android 11's body!

Android 11 took the hit without a verbal response. It fell back, starting to smoke. "Retreat is necessary. I have failed to fulfill my orders. I will return for you, filthy spies." Android 11 gathered as much energy as it could to make an escape! The electricity that flowed through its body was orange, like fire, as opposed to Seven's electrical energy, which was green, like his Nuclear attacks. Orange energy crackled around Android 11 as it gathered it power reserves. It used the gathered power to jump high into the air, landing on top of a building!

"Get back here!" Heather demanded, attempting to make chase, Madam Madcap hovering behind her.

But, Android 11 had already made its escape.

"I guess we should return to reality and get some rest, then?" Thorne suggested.

"That seems like a rational plan," Seven replied. "I will meet you in your cellular device."

"Who knows what crazy stuff we'll find when we go back," Heather joked.


	21. Update on All Future Chapters

Thanks to having had time to reconsider the direction I want to take this story, I've created a second edition, wherein I can retell the introduction and first chapter in a way which I see better fit to convey my message. All future chapters will be uploaded to "Digital Devil: Persona V (Original) 2nd Edition" which you can find here: s/13412080/1/Digital-Devil-Persona-V-Original-2nd-Edition

Thank you for everyone who read, engaged with, and critiqued this version of the story. I can only hope you will find even more enjoyment in the improved version!


End file.
